Euobserver.com reports that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on European parliament president Jerzy Buzek late last night to express concern about members' plans to reject a data-sharing agreement that would allow the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Transactions (SWIFT) to continue sharing European citizens' banking transaction data with U.S. officials, who use it to track terrorist financing. SWIFT said this week that it will not share any more data with the U.S. until the European parliament has had its say. Parliament is widely expected to reject the deal when it votes February 10. A U.S. Treasury Department official says counterterrorism efforts will be adversely affected should that happen. The director of the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets, Adam Szubin, told the Financial Times: "Every day without an agreement is a day we don't have access to data that could provide leads on tracking terrorists and their supporters." (Registration may be required to access this story.)
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