Follow the Money: The Financial Instruments of U.S. Foreign and National Security Policy
June 27th, 2016
State and non-state actors that pose a threat to the security of the United States share a common need—financial support. The United States works closely with international partners to implement sanctions programs that seek to urge states such as Russia, North Korea, and Iran to change their behavior and curb the flow of money to terrorists.
On June 27, join the World Affairs Council for a discussion on the financial instruments of U.S. foreign and national security policy with Adam Szubin, Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, United States Department of the Treasury.
This event is part of the 2015-2016 Community Programs Global Economic Outlook Series
This event is off-the-record and closed to press.
About our speaker:
Adam J. Szubin: Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence
Adam J. Szubin was nominated by the White House to serve as Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence on April 16, 2015. This position leads the Treasury Department’s policy, enforcement, regulatory, and intelligence functions aimed at identifying and disrupting the lines of financial support to international terrorist organizations, proliferators of weapons of mass destruction, narcotics traffickers, and other actors posing a threat to our national security or foreign policy. The Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence is also responsible for overseeing the Department’s efforts to combat money laundering and financial crimes.
Szubin was named the Director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on August 1, 2006. In his role as OFAC Director, Szubin was responsible for administering and enforcing the United States Government’s economic sanction programs to advance foreign policy and national security objectives. These programs target supporters of terrorism, proliferators of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), international narcotics traffickers, and select foreign countries.
During his tenure at the Treasury, Szubin also served as the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence from 2004 to 2006. In this capacity, he helped to develop and coordinate the implementation of policies on a range of issues, including terrorist financing, money laundering, sanctions programs, rogue regimes, WMD proliferation, and intelligence analysis. Szubin chaired the Money Laundering Threat Assessment Working Group, which produced the first government-wide analysis of U.S. money laundering vulnerabilities.
Szubin came to the Department of the Treasury from the Department of Justice, where he served as Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General, coordinating the Justice Department’s efforts to combat terrorism financing. Prior to assuming that position, he worked as a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the Justice Department, serving as a member of the Terrorism Litigation Task Force.
From 1999 to 2000, Szubin clerked for Judge Ronald Gilman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Szubin received his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1999, and his B.A., magna cum laude, from Harvard College in 1995. Szubin was also a Fulbright scholar. He lives with his wife and three children in Washington, DC.