The Obama administration is planning to expand access of financial data to all U.S. intelligence agencies, according to a Treasury document seen by Reuters.
The data is housed in the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN — created in 1990 to support law enforcement efforts to fight money laundering. The new proposal is set to open the books to spy agencies as well, such as the CIA and the National Security Agency.
Banks, wire transfer agencies, and securities dealers are among more than 25,000 financial firms that report data to FinCEN, as Reuters reports. The Department of the Treasury guidance on suspicious activity states that "banks are required to report known or suspected criminal offenses, at specified thresholds, or transactions over $5,000 that they suspect involve money laundering or violate the Bank Secrecy Act."
From Reuters:
[Financial firms] routinely file "suspicious activity reports" to FinCEN. The requirements for filing are so strict that banks often over-report, so they cannot be accused of failing to disclose activity that later proves questionable. This over-reporting raises the possibility that the financial details of ordinary citizens could wind up in the hands of spy agencies.
In the past, intelligence agencies could access financial data, but only after requesting and gaining approval on a case-by-case basis. The Treasury document obtained by Reuters proposes linking the FinCEN database to law enforcement agencies, and with the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System used by the Department of the Defense to share classified data.
John Sullivan, a spokesman for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the Department of the Treasury, sent a statement to Business Insider about the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and information sharing:
The BSA authorizes FinCEN to share BSA information with other U.S. government agencies, including intelligence agencies, for purposes that are consistent with the BSA. All users of BSA data are bound by Title 31 and other applicable laws in their access and use of the data. The use of BSA information regarding U.S. persons by the intelligence community is also subject to certain additional restrictions.
The move is likely to raise privacy concerns, and comes only a week after a report from Google showing government requests of user data have risen 122 percent since 2009.
From Reuters:
Despite these concerns, legal experts emphasize that this sharing of data is permissible under U.S. law. Specifically, banks' suspicious activity reporting requirements are dictated by a combination of the Bank Secrecy Act and the USA PATRIOT Act, which offer some privacy safeguards.
In a Treasury statement provided to Business Insider, the financial information is protected, and "may only may only be used for purposes consistent with the statute and is protected by further safeguards against misuse. Law enforcement and intelligence community members with access to this information are bound by these safeguards and may have further limits placed on their access to, and dissemination of, this information."
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