Metro Spirit national security blog
Monday, January 15, 2007
Beware of "unexplained wealth"
Your bank and credit card company are quite willing to part with your personal information. According to an article in The International Herald Tribune, the Pentagon and CIA have been sending out "non-compulsory" letters asking for financial records.
In hundreds of cases, financial institutions complied, allowing investigators to look at the files of both military personnel and civilians.
"While they would not provide details about specific cases, military intelligence officials with knowledge of them said the military had issued the letters to collect financial records regarding a government contractor with unexplained wealth, for example, and a chaplain at Guantánamo Bay erroneously suspected of aiding prisoners at the facility," the paper reports.
Apparently "unexplained wealth" now makes people subject to terrorism investigations.
In hundreds of cases, financial institutions complied, allowing investigators to look at the files of both military personnel and civilians.
"While they would not provide details about specific cases, military intelligence officials with knowledge of them said the military had issued the letters to collect financial records regarding a government contractor with unexplained wealth, for example, and a chaplain at Guantánamo Bay erroneously suspected of aiding prisoners at the facility," the paper reports.
Apparently "unexplained wealth" now makes people subject to terrorism investigations.
# posted by Tom Grant @ 4:43 AM 
