When do we get to shoot the leakers?

mike · #1 06-25-2006, 03:02 PM

I am sick of hearing about "leaks." There are criminals in agencies like the NSA, CIA and yet again the Pentagon. Personally, I think it is time to throw people in jail for leasing classified information. Where are the Democrats when their are national security leaks to the New York Times almost monthly? I guess they only go to the press when they can try to pin it on Bush. Here is the latest security violation.

Quote:

The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say.

According to a classified briefing at the Pentagon this week by the commander, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the number of American combat brigades in Iraq is projected to decrease to 5 or 6 from the current level of 14 by December 2007...

...General Casey's briefing has remained a closely held secret, and it was described by American officials who agreed to discuss the details only on condition of anonymity.

I am also sick of left-wing newspapers like the New York times becoming major venues for security violations. What happens if USFK Forums became a venue for leaks every month? What if I posted TOP SECRET information on this forum and stated, "I got this from a person who agreed to discuss this on conditions of anonymity." I would be in jail, that's what would happen!

Taichan · #2 06-25-2006, 03:20 PM

And i'm sick and tired of Polititions pissing all over the constitution and a president who has actually said its "just a god damn peice of paper"

mike · #3 06-25-2006, 03:24 PM

Quote:

a president who has actually said its "just a god damn peice of paper"

This is bogus. Show me the proof.

mike · #4 06-25-2006, 03:31 PM

Besides leaking the NSA wire taps, another highly classified program, the New York times printed another classified program last week.

Quote:

Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States, according to government and industry officials. The program is limited, government officials say, to tracing transactions of people suspected of having ties to Al Qaeda by reviewing records from the nerve center of the global banking industry, a Belgian cooperative that routes about $6 trillion daily between banks, brokerages, stock exchanges and other institutions. The records mostly involve wire transfers and other methods of moving money overseas and into and out of the United States.

Most routine financial transactions confined to this country are not in the database.

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, the officials said.

Quote:

[The program] has provided clues to money trails and ties between possible terrorists and groups financing them, the officials said. In some instances, they said, the program has pointed them to new suspects, while in others it has buttressed cases already under investigation.

Among the successes was the capture of a Qaeda operative, Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, believed to be the mastermind of the 2002 bombing of a Bali resort, several officials said. The Swift data identified a previously unknown figure in Southeast Asia who had financial dealings with a person suspected of being a member of Al Qaeda; that link helped locate Hambali in Thailand in 2003, they said.

In the United States, the program has provided financial data in investigations into possible domestic terrorist cells as well as inquiries of Islamic charities with suspected of having links to extremists, the officials said.

The data also helped identify a Brooklyn man who was convicted on terrorism-related charges last year, the officials said. The man, Uzair Paracha, who worked at a New York import business, aided a Qaeda operative in Pakistan by agreeing to launder $200,000 through a Karachi bank, prosecutors said.

In terrorism prosecutions, intelligence officials have been careful to "sanitize," or hide the origins of evidence collected through the program to keep it secret, officials said.

Thanks New York Times! I am sure the terrorists will send you a thank you card soon. The New York Times must feel great that they have the same Agenda as our enemies, hurting the US's ability to fight the war on terror.

shsong21 · #5 06-25-2006, 03:33 PM

I don't know what you say, NSA is very clever agency in U.S.
I like NSA, they are very clever like C.S.I Miami.

chucksnee · #6 06-25-2006, 04:12 PM

Hmmmmm a Triple post.....Not sure how that happened....Delete please Mike.

chucksnee · #7 06-25-2006, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taichan

And i'm sick and tired of Polititions pissing all over the constitution and a president who has actually said its "just a god damn peice of paper"

Yep, lets see the proof. That would have been ALL over the news paper.

I highly doubt the president said that. So show us where the President actually said the Constituation is just a god damn peice of paper!

mike · #8 06-27-2006, 03:38 PM

(crickets chirping)

mike · #9 06-27-2006, 03:44 PM

Even members of the 9-11 Commission urged the New York Times not to publish this story!

Quote:

It should also be noted that the co-chairmen of the bipartisan 9-11 Commission, Governor Tom Kean and Congressman Lee Hamilton, met in person or placed calls to the very highest levels of the Times urging the paper not to publish the story.

Additionally, even John Murtha urged them not to print this story!

mike · #10 06-27-2006, 03:47 PM

Even John Snow wrote a letter to the NYT.

Mr. Bill Keller, Managing Editor
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036

Dear Mr. Keller:

The New York Times' decision to disclose the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, a robust and classified effort to map terrorist networks through the use of financial data, was irresponsible and harmful to the security of Americans and freedom-loving people worldwide. In choosing to expose this program, despite repeated pleas from high-level officials on both sides of the aisle, including myself, the Times undermined a highly successful counter-terrorism program and alerted terrorists to the methods and sources used to track their money trails.

Your charge that our efforts to convince The New York Times not to publish were "half-hearted" is incorrect and offensive. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Over the past two months, Treasury has engaged in a vigorous dialogue with the Times - from the reporters writing the story to the D.C. Bureau Chief and all the way up to you. It should also be noted that the co-chairmen of the bipartisan 9-11 Commission, Governor Tom Kean and Congressman Lee Hamilton, met in person or placed calls to the very highest levels of the Times urging the paper not to publish the story. Members of Congress, senior U.S. Government officials and well-respected legal authorities from both sides of the aisle also asked the paper not to publish or supported the legality and validity of the program.

Indeed, I invited you to my office for the explicit purpose of talking you out of publishing this story. And there was nothing "half-hearted" about that effort. I told you about the true value of the program in defeating terrorism and sought to impress upon you the harm that would occur from its disclosure. I stressed that the program is grounded on solid legal footing, had many built-in safeguards, and has been extremely valuable in the war against terror.

Additionally, Treasury Under Secretary Stuart Levey met with the reporters and your senior editors to answer countless questions, laying out the legal framework and diligently outlining the multiple safeguards and protections that are in place.

You have defended your decision to compromise this program by asserting that "terror financiers know" our methods for tracking their funds and have already moved to other methods to send money. The fact that your editors believe themselves to be qualified to assess how terrorists are moving money betrays a breathtaking arrogance and a deep misunderstanding of this program and how it works. While terrorists are relying more heavily than before on cumbersome methods to move money, such as cash couriers, we have continued to see them using the formal financial system, which has made this particular program incredibly valuable.

Lastly, justifying this disclosure by citing the "public interest" in knowing information about this program means the paper has given itself free license to expose any covert activity that it happens to learn of - even those that are legally grounded, responsibly administered, independently overseen, and highly effective. Indeed, you have done so here.

What you've seemed to overlook is that it is also a matter of public interest that we use all means available - lawfully and responsibly - to help protect the American people from the deadly threats of terrorists. I am deeply disappointed in the New York Times.
Sincerely,

[signed]
John W. Snow, Secretary
U.S. Department of the Treasury

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