It appears that responsible adults on both sides of the Atlantic are working to tidy up the mess created by the nitwit editors of the New York Times, who mindlessly exposed a critical anti-terrorism program earlier this year.
As European privacy watchdogs step up their criticism of a U.S. counterterrorism program that monitors global bank-transfer data, U.S. and European Union officials are quietly exploring ways to preserve the program while allaying privacy concerns.Posted by Alan at November 21, 2006 10:00 AMAn EU committee this week is expected to back recent findings by Belgium's privacy regulator that Swift, a global banking-telecommunications network, violated European privacy laws when it gave information on cross-border wire transfers by EU citizens to the Treasury Department and the Central Intelligence Agency in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Backers of the once-classified intelligence program say it has helped avert terrorist attacks in the U.S. and Europe. The nonprofit Belgium cooperative is hoping for a political solution to the controversy, rather than facing possible regulatory action, top executives say....
People familiar with the discussions between U.S. and EU security officials say there are a number of options that may satisfy EU officials, such as the sharing of information regarding outside oversight of the program.
Both the U.S. and many European governments have long engaged in financial surveillance, particularly of international transactions, and the Swift program enjoys wide support among European counterterrorism officials.