Despite NY Times Assurances, Bank Story Sparks European Backlash

New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller claimed there were no consequences for leaking information about the bank-monitoring program designed to track terrorists' finances. He claimed that there was no harm done and that no backlash was caused by publicly releasing the information.

In fact, Keller said the program would still be supported in Europe, despite the leak.

The Bush Administration and America itself may be unpopular in Europe these days, but policing the byways of international terror seems to have pretty strong support everywhere. And while it is too early to tell, the initial signs are that our article is not generating a banker backlash against the program.

The European governments knew about the program, but now that the New York Times has made it known to the world, they may have to show outrage to their home citizens. On "Special Report with Brit Hume," the anchor led his July 7 "Political Grapevine" segment by reporting on the reaction of the European Parliament to the Times story.

By a vote of 302 to 219, the European Parliament approved a resolution demanding that European banks and governments disclose what they knew about the U.S. program to monitor terrorists' financial transactions.

The New York Times reports one French politician accused the U.S. of "rifling through our private bank accounts," and an Italian lawmaker compared the case to alleged CIA kidnappings of terror suspects, saying it has the same objective, "to extort information."

The administration had tried to convince the Times not to unveil the secret program, arguing among other things, that it would hurt cooperation with the Europeans.

But Times executive editor Bill Keller dismissed those concerns, calling that argument "puzzling," and noting just after publication, that the story did not appear to be generating a "backlash against the program" — at least, until now.

The Pentagon Papers controversy involved the Nixon administration's suing the New York Times and Washington Post to stop them from publishing a classified Pentagon report entitled "United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense." The report detailed embarrassing actions by the military during the Vietnam War and was highly critical of decisions made up and down the chain of command.

Nixon himself was not targeted in the report, nor his administration. The effort to sue the New York Times and the Washington Post was not to protect his own hide from criticism, since it was mostly focused on Democratic administrations, particularly Lyndon Johnson. The effort was made to prove to foreign governments that the United States is serious about protecting its secrets. This was highly critical given the secret negotiations and clandestine trips Henry Kissinger carried out to China.

After convincing European countries to allow the U.S. to monitor bank records, those countries get a slap in the face when once again, the United States government proves it is not serious about keeping its secrets, including ones that are highly embarrassing to more than one country.