Counterterrorism Blog: Reports of US Monitoring of SWIFT Transactions Are Not New: The Practice Has Been Known By Terrorism Financing Experts For Some Time

Reports of US Monitoring of SWIFT Transactions Are Not New: The Practice Has Been Known By Terrorism Financing Experts For Some Time

By Victor Comras

Yesterday’s New York Times Story on US monitoring of SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) transactions certainly hit the street with a splash. It awoke the general public to the practice. In that sense, it was truly new news. But reports on US monitoring of SWIFT transactions have been out there for some time. The information was fairly well known by terrorism financing experts back in 2002. The UN Al Qaeda and Taliban Monitoring Group , on which I served as the terrorism financing expert, learned of the practice during the course of our monitoring inquiries. The information was incorporated in our report to the UN Security Council in December 2002. That report is still available on the UN Website. Paragraph 31 of the report states:

“The settlement of international transactions is usually handled through correspondent banking relationships or large-value message and payment systems, such as the SWIFT, Fedwire or CHIPS systems in the United States of America. Such international clearance centres are critical to processing international banking transactions and are rich with payment information. The United States has begun to apply new monitoring techniques to spot and verify suspicious transactions. The Group recommends the adoption of similar mechanisms by other countries.”

Suggestions that SWIFT and other similar transactions should be monitored by investigative agencies dealing with terrorism, money laundering and other criminal activity have been out there for some time. An MIT paper discussed the pros and cons of such practices back in 1995. Canada’s Financial Intelligence Unit, FINTRAC,, for one, has acknowledged receiving information on Canadian origin SWIFT transactions since 2002. Of course, this info is provided by the banks themselves.

While monitoring SWIFT-handled transfers is a useful tool in identifying and tracking certain suspicious transactions, its importance should not be overstated. The information in SWIFT’s hands is no better than the information which it is provided by the banks handling the transactions at both ends. And there is already an obligation on banks in the US and Europe to report all “suspicious transactions” The problem is that FINCEN and the corresponding FIUS in other countries have simply been overwhelmed by the enormous amount of transactions that are reported to them (see my earlier blog) Another problem is that European Banks are just getting around to providing (and requiring) information, such as names, account numbers and addresses of originators and recipients of transactions channeled or handled by them through SWIFT or other international transfer facilitators (see my earlier blog). And most banks outside of Europe, the United States and other OECD countries, still do not require, or verify, such information.

The fact is that there is really very little privacy today when it comes to the international transfer of funds. That is why criminal networks, money launderers and terrorist groups have increasingly turned to Hawalas and cash couriers for such transactions.

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://counterterrorismblog.org/mt/pings.cgi/2845

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Reports of US Monitoring of SWIFT Transactions Are Not New: The Practice Has Been Known By Terrorism Financing Experts For Some Time:

» Let there be little doubt from Brutally Honest
Yesterday I used these words to describe The New York Times, The L.A. Times and other publishing outlets:The key issue is that the Main Stream Media is doing their level best to hamstring and handcuff the war on terror and [Read More]

» Reports of US Monitoring of SWIFT Transactions Are Not New: The Practice Has Been Known By Terrorism Financing Experts For Some Time from NoisyRoom.net
Courtesy of the Counterterrorism Blog: By Victor Comras Yesterday’s New York Times Story on US monitoring of SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) transactions certainly hit the street with a splash. It awoke the gene... [Read More]

» U.S. searched financial data to track terror financing from Homeland Stupidity
A secret U.S. government program instituted shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks searched large databases of international bank transactions for terrorist activity. Publication of the program has drawn criticism from conservatives, w... [Read More]

» Rep Pete King is the New McCarthy from liberal catnip
Bush also damned the press on Monday for making the bank records monitoring story public but, according to the Counterterrorism blog, the fact that the US government has been using SWIFT has actually been public knowledge for years - as is noted on t... [Read More]

» Media Disclosure of Terror Finance Program Not So Secret After All? from The Great Society
Tracy Russo at the Kicking Ass blog for the Democratic Party smacked down the talking point that the program monitoring SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) for terror finances was “leaked.” The Bush administ... [Read More]

» Terrorist surveillance, The New York Times and treason from The Lex Files
It's tempting to write off the controversy over The New York Times' reporting on surveillance of financial transactions as utterly meaningless. So tempting. And yet ... I do not mean to say the Times did anything illegal, even though that's... [Read More]

» Memo from The Lex Files
TO: House Speaker Dennis Hastert FROM: Lex DATE: 29 June 2006 RE: Your little temper tantrum Yo, Self-Serving Fat Boy: Before you get your panties in a wad over The New York Times (and The Wall Street Journal, don't forget,... [Read More]

» Hey, Al Quada! Get A Load Of This One! from Wizbang Bomb Squad
In the past few days, there's been a couple of real breakthroughs in the War On Terror, at least for Al Quada. But, I suppose it's the least that US liberals can do to join hands with their winsome allies... [Read More]

» SWIFT On the Slippery Slopes? from NMM Business Continuity
Item: Roundup on SWIFT breach — limits claimed are already breached — US citizens are the victims (Financial Cryptography). I take it back. This is a very able and edifying commentary on the l’affaire SWIFT from the latest — an... [Read More]

» Sign of the Times from Blue Bayou
When the New York Times ran its story on a government program to track down terrorists through international financial transactions, I was not sure what to think. On one hand, my instinct is to support a press that keeps a... [Read More]

» "Operation Swift" Was No Secret from TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime
Let's try this again. As New York Times editor Bill Keller said on Face the Nation yesterday, and the Boston Globe reported last week, Operation Swift and the Administration's war on terror financing was no secret. From the Globe:... [Read More]

» International Finance and the Global War on Terror from INTEL DUMP
Today's reports (in the New York Times, LA Times, and [Read More]

» Previous News Links from Pissed On Politics
September 24th, 2006 VIDEO: Clinton Sets The Record Straight On Terrorism, Smacks Down Fox News Chris Wallace Never Asked A Bush Administration Official Why They Demoted Richard Clarke Twenty killed, 41 injured in scattered violence around Iraq Iraqi ... [Read More]

» Computer Crime Report from Computer Crime Report
Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) (US Department of. To read The Field Guide [Read More]

Support

Please support us through The Counterterrorism Foundation, a tax-exempt organization

Contact Counterterrorism Foundation Speakers Bureau

One of "Top 50 Homeland Security Blogs"

Al Qaeda Officially Hates The Counterterrorism Blog

Newslinks

Fort Hood gunman reportedly shouted 'God is great' during rampage

The right place to try terrorists - Michael B. Mukasey

The War Against the War on Terrorism

Army Doctor Held in Fort Hood Rampage

Troubling portrait emerges of Fort Hood suspect

Treasury Designates Bank Mellat Subsidiary and Chairman Under Proliferation Authority

Obama faces competing demands on Afghanistan strategy

(Afghanistan) Going Tribal in Afghanistan