In full: Treasury letter to Times

Mr Snow said he personally tried to head off the report

The Bush administration has responded strongly to the New York Times's revelation that the US government has been monitoring international financial transactions as part of its "Global War on Terror".

The president called the disclosure "disgraceful", and Treasury Secretary John Snow has now written to Times executive editor Bill Keller in response to Mr Keller's defence of the paper.

Dear Mr Keller:

The New York Times' decision to disclose the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme, 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 programme, despite repeated pleas from high-level officials on both sides of the [political] 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 DC 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 US 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 programme in defeating terrorism and sought to impress upon you the harm that would occur from its disclosure. 

I stressed that the programme is grounded on solid legal footing, had many built-in safeguards, and has been extremely valuable in the war against terror. 

The paper has given itself free licence to expose any covert activity that it happens to learn of - even those that are legally grounded

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 programme 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 programme 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 programme incredibly valuable.

Lastly, justifying this disclosure by citing the "public interest" in knowing information about this programme means the paper has given itself free licence 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,
John W Snow, Secretary,
US Department of the Treasury