WASHINGTON – President Bush yesterday sharply condemned the disclosure of a program to secretly monitor the financial transactions of suspected terrorists. “The disclosure of this program is disgraceful,” he said.

“For people to leak that program and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America,” Mr. Bush said, jabbing his finger for emphasis. He said the disclosure of the program “makes it harder to win this war on terror.”

The program has been going on since shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001. It was disclosed last week by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times.

Using broad government subpoenas, the program allows America counterterrorism analysts to obtain financial information from a vast database maintained by a company based in Belgium. It routes about 11 million financial transactions daily among 7,800 banks and other financial institutions in 200 countries.

“Congress was briefed and what we did was fully authorized under the law,” Mr. Bush said. “We’re at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America. What we were doing was the right thing.”

“The American people expect this government to protect our constitutional liberties and at the same time make sure we understand what the terrorists are trying to do,” Mr. Bush said. He said that to figure out what terrorists plan to do, “You try to follow their money. And that’s exactly what we’re doing and the fact that a newspaper disclosed it makes it harder to win this war on terror.”

Vice President Cheney, in a speech yesterday at Grand Island, Neb., said, “Some of the press, particularly the New York Times, have made the job of defending against further terrorist attacks more difficult by insisting on publishing detailed information about vital national security programs.”

White House spokesman Tony Snow said it was up to the Justice Department to determine whether there would be a formal investigation of the news leak.

“Certainly nobody is going to deny First Amendment rights. But the New York Times and other news organizations ought to think long and hard about whether a public’s right to know in some cases might override somebody’s right to live,” Mr. Snow said. “And whether, in fact, the publication … could place in jeopardy the safety of fellow Americans.”

Meanwhile, the administration said it has informed major allies that the secret program has adequate privacy safeguards and will continue.

Tony Fratto, chief spokesman for the Treasury Department, said the contacts were made following the disclosure. “We have made a point of reaching out to our partners in the international community to make sure they understand our views and the safeguards we have in place,” he said. “We want to make sure it was clear to our partners that we value this program.”