SWIFT Invades Your Privacy But Lets Putin Invade

SWIFT Invades Your Privacy But Lets Putin Invade
A demonstrator holds a placard reading "SWIFT OFF", referring to the international SWIFT financial transfer network during a protest against Russia's invasion of the Ukraine in front of the Chancellery in Berlin on Feb. 25, 2022. John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images
Thomas McArdle
Updated:
Citing European opposition, President Joe Biden has balked at isolating Russia from the Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), used by thousands of banks around the globe, as part of the response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. SWIFT was established out of resentment toward American international financial dominance; before the inter-bank cooperative became operational in the 1970s, Telex, operated by what would become today’s Citibank, was the means used to conduct international financial transactions.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, SWIFT’s database became an invaluable asset in foiling terrorist attacks, as the U.S. Treasury Department and the CIA secretly accessed it via the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP), absent individual search warrants. The reach is so vast that even British intelligence has expressed discomfort with the “rich personal information” available to government access, much of which “is not about our targets.”
Thomas McArdle
Thomas McArdle
Author
Thomas McArdle was a White House speechwriter for President George W. Bush and writes for IssuesInsights.com
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