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Juan Zarate      

Senior National Security Analyst, Former Deputy National Security Advisor, Anti-Terrorism Finance Expert

Juan Carlos Zarate, Esq. is a senior adviser to the Center for Strategic and International Studies and serves as a senior national security analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. He was born and raised in Santa Ana, California, and is a member of the California Bar. Zarate advises companies and organizations on national, homeland, and finance-related security, technologies, and investments. He is also the Chairman and Senior Counselor for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance, and he sits on several influential boards, including HSBC’s Financial System Vulnerabilities Committee and the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority.

Zarate served as the deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for combating terrorism from 2005 to 2009. In this role, he was responsible for developing and overseeing the U.S. government’s counterterrorism strategy and managing U.S. domestic and international responses to transnational threats, including cybersecurity. His responsibilities extended to overseeing policies related to counternarcotics, maritime security, hostages, international organized crime, money laundering, and critical energy infrastructure protection.

Prior to joining the National Security Council, Zarate served as the first assistant secretary of the treasury for terrorist financing and financial crimes, where he led Treasury’s domestic and international efforts to attack terrorist financing, build comprehensive anti-money laundering systems, and expand the use of Treasury powers to advance national security interests. This included developing a new brand of financial power that has been used to pressure rogue actors like North Korea and Iran. He also played a pivotal role in establishing the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the Department of the Treasury. Zarate’s career at the Treasury Department spanned from 2001 to 2005, during which he was awarded the Treasury Medal. Before his tenure at the Treasury, he worked as a federal prosecutor at the Department of Justice’s Terrorism and Violent Crime Section, participating in significant cases such as the USS Cole investigation.

Zarate is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University and a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School. He studied as a Rotary International Fellow at the Universidad de Salamanca, Spain. A prolific writer and speaker, Zarate has authored books including "Treasury’s War: The Unleashing of a New Era of Financial Warfare" and "Forging Democracy," and he discusses topics such as cyber security, the future of national economic security, and the role of the private sector in international security. His insights have enriched national and international discourse on the evolving nature of security threats and the strategic and economic context of homeland security.

Speech Topics

Understanding the Financial Furies: Economic Sanctions, Financial Regulation, and the Evolution of Smart Financial Power.

The international financial system and economy have undergone enormous change and stress during the current economic downturn, and – as a result – they will be subject to increased international regulation and government intervention. This new environment will create additional burdens and opportunities for the private sector, while governments will be more reliant on additional sanctions and regulations to protect the integrity and security of the financial system. This will feed a new brand of financial power determined by reputational risk and market forces, economic sanctions, and financial regulation, which will be used to pressure and isolate terrorists, drug traffickers, money launderers, international organized criminals, and rogue states. Zarate – who helped establish this new brand of smart financial power as the first assistant secretary of the Treasury for terrorist financing and financial crimes – oversaw the largest expansion of the anti-money laundering system in the U.S. since the 1980s. With that experience, he addresses the evolution of the global regulatory structure, the increasing use of financial influence in national security, and the likely costs to the private sector.

National Security Challenges, Global Risk, and Emerging Opportunities in an Age of Terror and Uncertainty.

In an age of terrorism, growing threats from rogues states, non-state actors, and intensifying globalization, Juan Zarate – the U.S. government’s counterterrorism czar – explains current threats and trends, those on the horizon, and the risks and opportunities to governments and businesses operating in a global environment. With deep experience in managing U.S. domestic and international responses to transnational threats from the White House, Zarate puts these issues – from terrorism and piracy to cyberthreats and nuclear proliferation – in strategic and economic context, while explaining the systemic and interconnected nature of the challenges the United States and its allies face. There are few who understand as broadly and deeply as Zarate the national and homeland security implications of the threats we will be facing for years to come and the likely responses and opportunities that will arise as a result.

Treasury’s War.

For more than a decade, America has been waging a new kind of war against the financial networks of rogue regimes, proliferators, terrorist groups, and criminal syndicates. In a presentation that is “Moneyball meets Charlie Wilson’s War,” Juan Zarate pulls back the curtain on this shadowy world. Through gripping stories, he explains how a small, dedicated group of officials redefined the Treasury’s role and used its unique powers, relationships, and reputation to apply financial pressure against America’s enemies. He was at the head of a new brand of financial power—one that influenced and leveraged the private sector and banks directly to isolate rogues from the international financial system. By harnessing the forces of globalization and the centrality of the American market and dollar, Zarate and the Treasury developed a new way of undermining America’s foes, which is now critical to the most vital geopolitical challenges facing the United States, including terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and the regimes in Iran, North Korea, and Syria. Smart, direct, and engaging, Zarate also addresses how the targets of these operations have adapted to the new system and what the future holds for this incredibly effective but little-discussed financial power, which serves as America’s best weapon when sanctions are not enough but war is not an option.

News

In 'Treasury's War,' Missiles for a Financial Battlefield - NYTimes.com
A new book by Juan C. Zarate describes the Treasury Department's new methods for fighting the nation's foes.
Q&A: Juan Zarate, Author of 'Treasury's War' - Risk & Compliance ...
Juan Zarate's memoir, “Treasury's War,” recounts his role in crafting the U.S. Treasury Department's anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism and sanctions ...

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