On Tuesday, April 22, Juan C. Zarate, Senior Adviser at the Transnational Threats Project and Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, discussed his book Treasury’s War: The Unleashing of a New Era of Financial Warfare.
He addressed the way in which financial warfare has shifted since the 1970s and 1980s, when economic sanctions were used. In the post-9/11 era, he noted, there has been a shift to isolate rogue actors and institutions from the global financial system. This financial warfare has become part of the national strategy, and has had an impact on terrorist organizations and unfriendly regimes, as well as on the financial system as a whole.
Mr. Zarate also reviewed some case studies in which the U.S. implemented financial warfare, as well as limitations to the use of this instrument of statecraft.