Financial Privacy and the War on Terrorism
HILL BRIEFINGFriday, April 26, 2002
12:00 p.m. (Luncheon to follow)
Featuring David R. Burton, Prosperity Institute; J. Bradley Jansen, Free Congress Foundation; and Veronique de Rugy, Cato Institute.
B-369 Rayburn House Office Building
The terrorist incidents of September 11 have fueled support for government proposals to track and collect even more details about the financial transactions of citizens and non-citizens. The assumption is that these measures will improve security and prevent further terrorism. According to advocates of such initiatives, financial privacy protects drug dealers and terrorists and must, therefore, be sacrificed. Yet there is considerable evidence that more information sharing between the financial industry and the government would destroy financial privacy without effectively combating terrorism.