Shock: Leaking Classified Info To Our Enemy Actually Hurts Our Security

Some more TRUTH, without so many layers, for the NYT:

Disclosure of a secret program giving the U.S. government access to a massive international data base of financial information was “very damaging� to efforts to catch terrorists, Congress was told Tuesday.

“This disclosure compromised one of our most valuable programs and will only make our efforts to track terrorist financing — and to prevent terrorist attacks — harder,� Stuart Levey, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury Department, argued before a House Financial Services panel.

The program, started shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, generated lots of leads, Levey said. But he added that details remain classified.

...

Levey said the program played an important role in an investigation that eventually led to the capture of Indonesian Riduan Isamuddin, or Hambali, the operations chief of the al-Qaida linked Jemaah Islamiya, a Southeast Asian terror group. Hambali allegedly masterminded the deadly 2002 Bali bombings.

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Asked whether the government is investigating the disclosure or leak of the program, Levey said the Treasury Department is in consultations with the Justice Department about the appropriate way to go forward.

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When asked whether the program is effectively dead because of the revelations of its existence, Levey responded: “It remains to be seen.�

"Ratting out your country to its most vicious enemies is the highest form of patriotism." -- Benedict Arnold, from Stuff Arnold Said, 3rd edition

posted by Ace at 07:58 PM

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