Bank-monitoring story jeopardizes anti-terrorism efforts, president says

The president had a similar reaction to disclosure of NSA phone surveillance.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- An angry President Bush chastised the press Monday for disclosing the government's efforts to track international financial transactions, calling the revelations "disgraceful" and harmful to the war on terrorism.
"What we did was fully authorized under the law. And the disclosure of this program is disgraceful," Bush said. "We're at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America, and for people to leak that program, and for a newspaper to publish it, does great harm to the United States of America."
White House spokesman Tony Snow said Bush's ire was directed primarily at The New York Times, which was the first to report last week that the government sifts through a vast database of financial transactions for evidence of terrorist financing. The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal followed with their own stories on the program, which gives the government access to confidential records from about 7,800 financial institutions worldwide, including virtually every major bank.
A controversial tactic
Experts differ on the legality of the program. Some agree with Bush that it's legal, but question the appropriateness of combing through vast amounts of private information in an open-ended investigation. Others worry that the program lacks sufficient privacy protections and other safeguards against abuse.
The controversy over its disclosure is the latest clash between the media and the Bush administration over revelations about the government's tactics in the war on terrorism. Bush and his aides also have complained about the disclosure of a warrantless eavesdropping program and allegations of secret prisons for terrorism suspects in Europe.