Revisiting Treasury’s War: The History and Future of the Treasury Department’s Role in National Security

 

The National Security Institute, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the Center for a New American Security, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies were excited to co-host Revisiting Treasury’s War: The History and Future of the Treasury Department’s Role in National Security. 

This two-event series brings together two decades of the Treasury Department’s national security leadership to discuss the role the Department, and particularly, Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI), plays in strengthening the U.S. national security strategy. The series included participants from all the major components of TFI, including the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Office of Intelligence and Analysis (OIA), the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes (TFFC).

 

Panel 1 – Taking Treasury to War: Two Decades of Using Financial Measures as National Security Statecraft

Tuesday, October 27 | 1:00-2:00 PM ET

Panelists broadly covered the use of financial tools to achieve national security and foreign policy objectives in the aftermath of September 11 through the current era given that sanctions and other such tools are an increasingly prominent—if not the primary—tool of effectuating foreign policy and national security goals, and what lessons might be learned from two decades of such work.

 

Featured:

  • Daniel Glaser, Former Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes;
  • Jennifer Fowler, Former Acting Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes
  • Juan Zarate, NSI Advisory Board member and Former Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes; and
  • Jamil N. Jaffer, NSI Founder and Executive Director (Moderator)

 

Event transcript available here.

 

Speaker Bios:

 

Daniel L. Glaser is a Principal with Financial Integrity Network and a senior advisor to the Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).  From 2011 – 2017, Mr. Glaser served as Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes in the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.  As Assistant Secretary, Mr. Glaser was responsible for helping to formulate and coordinate counterterrorist financing, anti-money laundering, sanctions and other counter-illicit finance policies and strategies within the Treasury Department and U.S. Government, and globally.  Among Mr. Glaser’s responsibilities were serving as U.S. co-chair of the illicit finance track of the Global Counter-ISIL Coalition, and U.S. chair of the illicit finance track of the U.S-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.  Mr. Glaser also led U.S. efforts to combat illicit finance through the establishment of both the U.S.-Mexico Public-Private Partnership and U.S.-GCC Public-Private Partnership.  Previously, Mr. Glaser served as Treasury’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, Head of the U.S. Delegation to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and co-chair of FATF’s International Cooperation Review Group. 

 

 

Jennifer Fowler is a Director in Brunswick Group’s Washington, D.C. office.  She is an expert in illicit finance and economic sanctions-related issues, having served in senior positions in the U.S. Department of the Treasury for nearly two decades.  In her roles at Treasury, Jennifer developed and led the implementation of counter-illicit finance strategies and policies.  Most recently, Ms. Fowler was Treasury’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, and served as the Vice President of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global standard setter for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.  Ms. Fowler has deep expertise in the U.S. and international regulatory frameworks for anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, and counter-proliferation financing, as well as the range of illicit finance and sanctions risks companies face today.  She has extensive experience working with foreign governments and financial institutions to prevent, mitigate and respond to illicit finance threats.

 

 

Juan Zarate is Chairman and Co-Founder of the Financial Integrity Network (FIN) and the Global Co-Managing Partner &  Chief  Strategy  Officer of the combined firm of K2 Intelligence and FIN.  Mr. Zarate is the chairman of the Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and a senior fellow at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center (CTC).  Mr. Zarate served as the Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser for combating terrorism (“counterterrorism czar”) from 2005 to 2009, where he was responsible for developing and implementing the U.S. counterterrorism strategy and policies related to transnational security threats.  Mr. Zarate was the first-ever Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for terrorist financing and financial crimes, where he led the post-9/11 anti-money laundering and sanctions regime expansion in the United States; supervised the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN), the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the Treasury’s Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture (TEOAF); drove the innovative use of the Treasury’s national security–related powers and ultimately the establishment of the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI).  Prior to 9/11, Mr. Zarate was a federal terrorism prosecutor, serving on the prosecution teams for the attacks on the U.S. Embassies in East Africa and the USS Cole.

 

 

Jamil N. Jaffer (Moderator) is the Founder and Executive Director of the National Security Institute, and an Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the National Security Law & Policy Program at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.  Jamil is also Senior Vice President for Strategy, Partnerships & Corporate Development at IronNet Cybersecurity, a technology products startup founded by Gen (ret.) Keith B. Alexander, the former Director of the National Security Agency and Founding Commander of U.S. Cyber Command.  In addition, Jamil is an advisor to Beacon Global Strategies, a strategic advisory firm; 4iQ, a deep and dark web intelligence startup; Duco, a technology platform startup that connects corporations with geopolitical and international business experts; and Amber, a digital authentication and verification startup.

 

Panel 2 – Challenges and Opportunities in Treasury’s War: Future Financial Measures for Policy Innovation and Implementation

More info here.