NY Times Gives Away Secrets to Terrorists

What is it with the NY Times? Are they so blinded by their hatred of the President that they willing put all of us in jeopardy? Revealing the secret and legal program of sifting through bank records in an attempt to smoke out those financing terrorists, the NYT has put us all in greater danger. It is time that there was a crackdown on these intelligence leaks. this is not a whistle blower, whom ever leaked this information is a traitor and should be dealt with accordingly. The reporter involved should have their carcass tossed in jail until they reveal their source.This is not about freedom of the press, this is about an irrespomsible press, willing to go to any lengths to promote their own agenda. No wonder the Times is losing readership

Here are some snippets from a Washington Times editorial on this issue.

"Once more the spoiler. Despite the earnest persuasion of the White House to preserve a useful weapon in the war against the terrorists, the New York Times has revealed the workings of a covert surveillance program, indisputably within the law, to use administrative subpoenas to examine, through a Belgian financial consortium known by the acronym SWIFT, the financing of international terrorism. Once the story was out, the Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal covered it as well. Now the program is damaged, perhaps severely so, and the financing of terror is harder to track. This is another unnecessary leak, six months after the New York Times revealed a secret National Security Agency terrorist surveillance program.

In its earlier scoop, the New York Times could reasonably argue legal uncertainty. Not this time. The Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Miller in 1976 that no right to privacy attaches to the type of third-party financial-transaction information SWIFT has provided to the Treasury Department. The Right to Financial Privacy Act, enacted by Congress in 1978 in the wake of United States v. Miller, allows just the administrative subpoenas Treasury has been using. So does the Patriot Act. The SWIFT transactions that Treasury has been examining are international in nature. The searches are specifically targeted at suspected or known terrorists, a "sharp harpoon aimed at the heart of terrorist activity," as Treasury Secretary John Snow puts it. The claim that the rights of American citizens are infringed is irrational, unduly partisan, or both."

The Times was absolutely irresponsible here. This is a legal program. Unfortunately the editors of the Times have no problem putting us all in danger if it meests their agenda to do so. Shame on the Times. They have no ethics what so ever. - Sailor