BBC - JUNE 2006

US Vice-President Dick Cheney has condemned as "offensive" US media disclosures of a secret programme that probes global financial transactions.
The government has covertly tracked thousands of international money transactions for nearly five years as part of its so-called war on terror.

Mr Cheney said leaking the programme played into the enemy's hands.

The New York Times defended its coverage, saying the information was in the public's interest.

Speaking in Chicago, Mr Cheney said the disclosures, which went ahead despite appeals from the White House, would make it more difficult for the administration to prevent future attacks.

The operation uses a huge financial database in Belgium, known as Swift, to track private money transfers around the world.

But civil liberty groups have raised concerns that the programme, which began soon after the 9/11 attacks in the US, may infringe individual rights to privacy.

Mr Cheney said: "These are good, solid sound programmes. They are conducted in accordance with the laws of the land."

He added: "What I find most disturbing is the fact that some in the media take it upon themselves to disclose vital national security programmes, thereby making it more difficult for us to prevent future attacks against the American people."

The programme had earlier also been defended by Treasury Secretary John Snow.

He called it an "effective weapon in the larger war on terror."

The treasury says the programme is strictly confined to the records of suspected foreign terrorists.

The government had compelled Swift, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, which links about 7,800 financial institutions around the world, to open its records, using subpoenas.

The New York Times, which revealed the programme, defended its coverage.

Executive editor Bill Keller 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."

Although there is no direct connection, the scheme has echoes of a recently revealed US surveillance programme in which millions of international and domestic phone calls and e-mails were monitored, correspondents say.

America was briefly plunged back into full "war on terror" response mode yesterday - a state it has not been in for nearly two years.

In a throwback to the post-September 11 era the rolling television news channels were pumping out endless footage of politicians urging people to stay calm and go out and enjoy their weekend.

Americans were also urged to keep their eyes open for people acting suspiciously and casing out public buildings but emotions began to cool when it emerged that the plot was very much in the planning stage - "aspirational" in the words of the deputy head of the FBI.

Nearly five years on from the Twin Towers attacks, it appears that the nation is becoming more robust and that it takes more than a plot to prompt panic.

For President George W Bush the foiling of the apparent plan to bomb Chicago's Sears Tower was a political windfall.

The day began with a bubbling row over the news that the government had been tracking international money transactions to follow the flow of possible terrorist funds abroad.

The arrests in Miami and Georgia made the US Treasury's case much easier to defend.

But the real lesson of the day may be that Americans can now absorb such seemingly shocking news without rushing out for duct tape and food.