Eric Lichtblau's SWIFT Story: Did it Reveal Something Secret or Not?

John at Powerline has got the most devasting argument that I've yet read against the defense ("The terrorists knew") of NY Times' Eric Lichtblau's article which revealed the classified means of tracing terrorist's financial networking through the program called SWIFT.

He draws our attention to an earlier Lichtblau piece titled "U.S. Lacks Strategy to Curb Terror Funds." It was published November 2005, a mere 8 months ago. So, you say, what's the beef? Eight months ago Lichtblau just didn't know what he knows now (thanks to the leaks, it must be said). Right. And that's the point: Lichtblau goes to great lengths to report all the authorities saying that the Bush Administration wasn't taking enough measures to chase down the terrorists' money and transaction channels.... In other words, no one knew about SWIFT in November.

John draws these conclusions:

What can we conclude from this? Several things. First, neither Lichtblau, nor the GAO, nor Lichtblau's "experts" knew anything about the secret SWIFT tracking program. This renders the Times' current defense untenable.

Second, both GAO and Lichtblau were quick to criticize the government's overall anti-terrorist finance efforts when, in fact, they had information on only one minor aspect of those efforts. This is not surprising: the federal bureaucracy and the New York Times' staff both consist overwhelmingly of loyal Democrats.

Third, Lichtblau and his "experts" were ill-informed. Hambali, the most wanted terrorist in Southeast Asia and the architect of the Bali bombing, had been captured, with the aid of the SWIFT program, in August 2003. So readers who relied on the Times and Lichtblau's "experts" for information on how the administration was doing in fighting al Qaeda were misinformed.

Fourth, Lichtblau's current reporting is deeply dishonest. His statements to the effect that everyone knew about the SWIFT program are obviously false; neither he, his "experts" nor the GAO apparently were aware of it. Further, if Lichtblau were a reporter with integrity, his most recent story would have begun with an acknowledgement of his own prior, inaccurate reporting. An appropriate headline might have been: "We had it wrong: Bush administration doing great job in tracking terrorist financing." Don't hold your breath.

Finally, this episode casts light on the broader relationship between the Bush administration and the press. Here, the administration endured unjust, uninformed criticism first from the GAO, then, echoed and amplified, from the press. It must have been tempting, and surely would have been politically helpful, for the administration to leak the existence of the SWIFT program and the fact that its anti-terror financing programs have been successful--have, in fact, contributed to the capture of one of the world's most wanted terrorists. But the administration didn't do that. The administration endured unjust criticism and political damage rather than expose a program that was important to the nation's defense. How sad that Bill Keller and Eric Lichtblau didn't learn from President Bush's example.

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