Suskind: First Data offered info after 9/11

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. (AP) -- First Data Corp., a credit-card processing company and the owner of Western Union, offered federal agents access to its vast database of customer information after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a new book.
The claims were detailed in the book, "The One Percent Doctrine," by Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Suskind, who said First Data "wanted to help in any way it could," newspapers reported Wednesday.
Suskind wrote that First Data contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation within two days of the Sept. 11 attacks and offered help. Federal agents later checked the last names of terrorists against First Data's records of credit-card transactions at an Omaha, Neb., processing facility, Suskind said.
He also said that Western Union permitted the Central Intelligence Agency to monitor transactions in real time in early 2003.
A company spokesman declined to comment Wednesday and referred to a statement First Data released earlier saying it has not worked with Suskind and its officials have not read the book
"First Data and Western Union take security and compliance very seriously. Both companies support and adhere to all laws related to financial information and provide information to law enforcement agencies only in response to subpoenas and other lawful requests," the statement said.
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