Treasury's War: The Unleashing of a New Era of Financial Warfare

by Juan Zarate

Overview

Over the past decade, America has been waging a new kind of war against the financial networks of rogue regimes, proliferators, terrorist groups, and criminal syndicates. In this book, Juan Zarate—who, along with a dedicated group of Treasury officials, designed and implemented this strategy and capability—takes readers behind the scenes to explain in unprecedented detail how this group redefined the Treasury's role, and used its unique powers, relationships, and reputation to apply financial pressure against America's enemies. This new brand of financial power leveraged the private sector and created an international financial environment in which the private sector's bottom line dovetailed directly with U.S. national security interests— with the goal of isolating rogues from the legitimate financial system. Treasury and its tools soon became critical in all the central geopolitical challenges facing the United States, including terrorism, proliferation, and regimes in North Korea, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Cuba.

There has been very little written about the unique story of the U.S.'s financial warfare campaigns. This book is the definitive account, by an unparalleled authority on the subject.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610391153
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	09/10/2013
Pages:	512
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Juan C. Zarate is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the senior national security analyst for CBS News, and a visiting lecturer of law at Harvard Law School. Prior to that, he served as the deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism, and the first ever assistant secretary of the Treasury for terrorist financing and financial crimes. He appears frequently on CBS News programs, PBS’s News Hour, NPR, CNN, and has written for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and more. He lives in  Alexandria, Virginia.

Table of Contents

Prologue: "The Hidden War" ix

Introduction: The Modern Megarian Decree 1

Part I Foundation

1 A New Kind of War 15

2 Financial Footprints 45

3 Nose Under the Tent 67

4 Financial Chokepoints 93

Part II A New Paradigm

5 Blowfish 127

6 Bad Banks 145

7 "The Mother of All Financial Investigations" 169

8 Resurrection 201

Part III Financial Furies

9 "Killing the Chicken to Scare the Monkeys" 219

10 The Awakening 239

11 Putting the Genie Back in the Bottle 249

12 Revelation 269

13 The Constriction Campaign 287

Part IV Adaptation

14 Dusting Off the Playbook 319

15 Learning Curve 357

16 The Coming Financial Wars 383

Epilogue: Lessons from the Use of Financial Power 423

Acknowledgments 433

Notes 439

Selected Bibliography 465

Index 473

Photo insert between pages 248-249.

Editorial Reviews

For those of us who start feeling drowsy at the very mention of the words "Treasury Department," this book is an eye-opener. Under Mr. Zarate, and his successors, Treasury quietly built new capabilities that owe less to junk bonds than to James Bond…Treasury's War does a fine job of shedding light on a new and significant aspect of international relations that many of us may not be aware of, and that is likely to gain in importance in the years to come.

The New York Times - Bryan Burrough

In this lengthy memoir, Zarate, a former U.S. Treasury and White House counterterrorism official, recounts how his team worked to “uncover hidden or layered assets” in Iraq and helped fight the Bush administration’s “War on Terror.” He ably describes the sophisticated financial chicanery of enemy states, the ins and outs of money laundering, and the efforts of private banks and corporations to protect global trade and finance. However, readers should not expect to receive a complete picture of financial warfare, much less learn about the future. These windy recollections are crafted mainly for the purpose of finding a place for their author in recent history. Zarate’s insider’s account, which relies on diaries and personal experiences, offers no fresh insights into Middle East or global financial strategy, and the narrative contains more than its share of tedious “I sat down with U.S. Central Command”–type moments. Zarate squeezes important topics such as systemic vulnerability, currency manipulation, and cyberwarfare into a few pages at the end. No doubt, as the author makes clear, dirty money from Iraq, Iran, Syria, North Korea, and other nations threatens to poison the entire global economic landscape. In spite of the book’s limitations, those intrigued by international money laundering and the U.S. government’s efforts to prevent rogue states from financing terrorism will appreciate Zarate’s account. Agent: Max Brockman, Brockman Inc. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

How the United States uses economic embargoes and financial tools as weapons against murderous terrorist groups and "rogue states" such as North Korea, Iran and Syria. Zarate, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is a former federal prosecutor who joined the U.S. Treasury Department after the 9/11 attacks to figure out ways to constrict the financing of terrorist groups. Relying heavily on anecdotes, acronyms and actual case studies, he provides detailed explanations of secretive operations far less publicized than ground wars and drone strikes. He builds the saga around a small group within the Treasury Department who gather regularly to develop new policies of economic warfare, coordinate those policies with fellow government agencies (such as the State Department), and also negotiate with banks and other private-sector institutions. Although Zarate's work carries the immediacy associated with the so-called war on terror, he wisely places financial warfare in historical context, going all the way back to 432 B.C., when the Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta battled for hegemony by employing economic sanctions as part of their strategies. Moving forward in history, the author notes the economic blockage of the Confederacy by Union forces during the Civil War. Since Zarate worked on economic sanctions during his tenure in the Bush administration, he is able to provide a you-are-there sense that will quite likely draw readers into what otherwise might have been an arcane account. Zarate is a patriot but not a blind patriot. While proud of his work, he is also willing to point out mistakes in the execution of policy and shortcomings in the overall strategy of the U.S. His epilogue sets out "lessons learned" with suggestions for improvement. A bracing account by a knowledgeable authority.

Kirkus Reviews

National Interest
“Zarate's book admirably underscores the dire national-security threat posed by the almost-unfathomable level of our national debt… There is much in Zarate's book that enlightens us, and he gets many things right and proposes some innovative ideas.”

Arnaud de Borchgrave, UPI
“One of the world's most challenging assignments — explained in vivid, dramatic detail by Juan C. Zarate, a former super sleuth in the U.S. government's long campaign to find and disrupt al-Qaida's terrorist funding in the Worldwide Web…Zarate's "Treasury's War" is a gripping electronic whodunit in a constantly changing environment where inequalities are widening and where technology is destroying more jobs than it creates…. This is the first book that lifts the veil of secrecy on the financial power [Zarate's team] marshaled against America's enemies.”

Kirkus Reviews
“A bracing account by a knowledgeable authority.”


Finalist for the William E. Colby Military History Award

Bryan Burrough, New York Times Business section
“For those of us who start feeling drowsy at the very mention of the words ‘Treasury Department,' this book is an eye-opener. Under Mr. Zarate, and his successors, Treasury quietly built new capabilities that owe less to junk bonds than to James Bond…. ‘Treasury's War' does a fine job of shedding light on a new and significant aspect of international relations that many of us may not be aware of, and that is likely to gain in importance in the years to come.”

Jordan Chandler Hirsch, Washington Post
“[A] thorough, thoughtful insider's account… The true value of Zarate's book lies in explaining the difference between traditional sanctions and this new form of financial warfare.”

ABA Banking Journal
“I consider it a must-read for anyone who wants to know where we are, where we've been, and what challenges lie ahead… Treasury's War is detailed, interesting, and sincere.”

General Michael Hayden, former Director of CIA and NSA
“Juan Zarate's groundbreaking Treasury's War illuminates an underappreciated and under commented revolution in international affairs. Beset by nontraditional enemies and threats, the United States in the Bush administration leveraged America's place in the global financial system to create some important ‘asymmetrical power' of its own. As advocate and architect of this new approach, Zarate is well placed to tell the tale of America's most unique precision
guided weapon and he does so with detail, candor, and perspective.”

Sam Nunn, former U.S. Senator
"For those wanting to know how financial power and influence are wielded in the world, this is the book. Juan Zarate not only tells a gripping story, but lays out the policy implications and future for the use of this power. This is a must-read about the evolution of financial warfare over the past decade and how it will continue to play a central role in the nation's security."

From the Publisher