US secretly used data to track terror funds: NYT

WASHINGTON, June 23: US counterterrorism officials gained access to an international database and have examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others under a secret program initiated weeks after the September. 11 attacks, The New York Times reported.

US government officials said yesterday the program was limited to tracing transactions of people suspected of ties to al Qaeda by reviewing records from a Belgian cooperative known as SWIFT, or Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, the ''nerve center of the global banking industry,'' the newspaper reported on its Web site.

''Viewed by the Bush administration as a vital tool, the program has played a hidden role in domestic and foreign terrorism investigations since 2001 and helped in the capture of the most wanted Qaeda figure in Southeast Asia,'' it said.

Government officials said SWIFT data helped lead to the capture of Riduan Isamuddin Hambali, believed to be the mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings, the report said.

The records mostly involved wire transfers and other methods of moving money overseas or into and out of the United States. Most routine transactions confined to the United States are not in the database.

The program, run out of the CIA and overseen by the US Treasury Department ''has provided us with a unique and powerful window into the operations of terrorist networks and is, without doubt, a legal and proper use of our authorities,'' Stuart Levey, a Treasury undersecretary, told the newspaper.

Treasury officials said SWIFT was exempt from American laws restricting government access to private financial records because the cooperative was considered a messaging service, not a bank or financial institution.

'GRAY AREA' But the article also quoted several people familiar with the program who said they believed a ''gray area'' in the law had been exploited and worried about the impact on SWIFT if the program were disclosed.

''There was always concern about this program,'' an unidentified former government official was quoted as saying.

The New York Times said administration officials had asked it not to publish the article, saying disclosure of the SWIFT program could jeopardize its effectiveness.

After considering the government's request, Bill Keller, the newspaper's executive editor, said, ''We remain convinced that the administration's extraordinary access to this vast repository of international financial data, however carefully targeted use of it may be, is a matter of public interest.'' Shortly after publication of the Times article, Treasury Secretary John Snow issued a statement defending the government's use of the SWIFT program and expressing regret its existence had been made public.

''Let me be clear what this program is, and what it is not. It is an essential tool in the war on terror, based on appropriate legal authorities with effective oversight and safeguards,'' Snow said.

''It is not 'data mining,' or trolling through the private financial records of Americans. It is not a 'fishing expedition,' but rather a sharp harpoon aimed at the heart of terrorist activity.'' SWIFT said on its Web Site that after the September. 11 attacks, it responded to compulsory subpoenas for ''limited sets of data'' from the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury.

''Our fundamental principle has been to preserve the confidentiality of our users' data while complying with the lawful obligations in countries where we operate,'' it said. ''Striking that balance has guided SWIFT through this process with the United States Department of the Treasury.''

Reuters