Associated Press | Jun 23, 2006
By JEANNINE AVERSA

WASHINGTON (AP) - Treasury Secretary John Snow on Friday said a program tracking millions of financial transactions was not invasion of privacy of Americans but "government at its best" and vital to the war on terrorism.

Snow told a news conference the program, run by the CIA and overseen by the Treasury Department, was "responsible government, it's effective government, it's government that works."

"It's entirely consistent with democratic values, with our best legal traditions," Snow said.

The once-secret program, which has been going on since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, has drawn protests from Democrats in Congress, who said it raises concerns about intrusions on privacy and who saw it as the latest step in an aggressive Bush administration expansion of executive-branch powers.