When the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times reported that SWIFT data was being used to track terrorist finances, Dennis Lormel, the former head of the FBI’s terrorist financial investigative unit, helped lead the charge accusing the media of undermining our nation’s security. Rule of thumb, PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES SHOULD NOT THROW ROCKS.
I don’t really think Dennis is a traitor, but, if we use the standard that the Bush White House applied only to the New York Times, he probably is. Take a look at Chapter One of Ron Suskind’s new thriller, The One Percent Doctrine, which features none other than Mr. Dennis Lormel. Suskind writes:
At noon on September 13, a passing agent ducked his head into Dennis Lormel’s office. He said that someone had called from the Omaha FBI office. A company named First Data Corporation, with a huge processing facility out there, wanted to help in any way it could. A red-eyed Lormel looked up from his desk. “Oh, that’s big”. . . .But Lormel also knew something most of the agents running sleepless around FBI headquarters two days after 9/11 didn’t know: First Data was not only the world’s leading credit card processor . . .”Inside that company is a gem–Western Union.”
That my friends is what my analyst buddies called, “no shit analysis”. Suskind, with Lormel’s assistance, proceeds to offer detailed descriptions of information subsequently obtained from First Data Corporation, including records of Western Union financial transactions. The information revealed by Lormel is far more sensitive and classified than anything reported in the New York Times. If you want to know some of the secrets about what the United States is doing to track terrorist assets, read Suskind’s book.
Before Dennis Lormel leads anymore parades attacking the media for compromising secrets he ought to stuff a sock in his mouth. Lormel lecturing on protecting info about financial secrets is like listening to Ken Lay on corporate financial management.