A British watchdog group called Privacy International has launched a campaign to urge European banks to stop releasing confidential financial records to the U.S. government. Last week the New York Times revealed that the Brussels based-Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications has allowed the Bush administration to secretly monitor millions of international bank transactions without court-approval. Privacy International said it had filed complaints with data protection and privacy regulators in 32 countries. The Belgian prime minister has also asked the country’s Justice Ministry to investigate whether the Bush administration’s secret program violated Belgian law. Meanwhile in Washington, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, has accused the New York Times and other press outlets of acting irresponsibly by reporting on the secret program. Roberts has asked John Negroponte, the director of the national intelligence, to assess the damage could be the press reports. Roberts wrote '’we have been unable to persuade the media to act responsibly and to protect the means by which we protect this nation.'’ The editors of the National Review have called for the government to strip the New York Times of its press credentials.