The New York Times revealed yesterday that for the past four and a half years,
the Bush government has been gathering information on money transfers through
Swift, the international banking clearinghouse.  Though government maintains
that the only data that are examined are those that are linked to potential
terrorists, this government's expansive definitions of terrorism have in the
past included mere political opposition.  Congress must not trust the Bush
government with oversight of this scheme.

I urge you, therefore, to support specific, targeted, unambiguous legislation
which would ensure that government access to private financial records, whether
domestic or international, and whether individual or institutional, is used only
in cases of specific and articulable links to individual terrorists or terror
organisations, and not to investigate individuals for political links, or for
any other purposes.