Office of Intelligence and Analysis (Treasury Department) explained

Agency Name:Office of Intelligence and Analysis
Type:office
Seal:File:Seal_of_the_United_States_Department_of_the_Treasury.svg
Formed:2004
Preceding1:Office of National Security (ONS)
Jurisdiction:Executive branch of the United States
Chief1 Name:Shannon Corless
Chief1 Position:Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Intelligence and Analysis
Parent Department:U.S. Department of the Treasury
Website:Official website

The Office of Intelligence and Analysis (OIA) is a component of the United States Department of the Treasury responsible for the receipt, analysis, collation, and dissemination of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information related to the operation and responsibilities of the Treasury Department.

Organized within the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, the OIA’s efforts inform and support the Treasury Department’s ability to address illicit finance and national security threats to the United States such as terrorists, proliferators, rogue regimes, and criminal actors.[1]

Precedents and Predecessor Offices of the Treasury

In its own account, the Office of Intelligence and Analysis traces its lineage to the pre-Constitutional Confederation Period and a 1782 instruction by the Congress of the Confederation to Robert Morris, Superintendent of Finance of the United States, to root out fraud in the Army.

In 1961, the Treasury Department established a foreign intelligence capability, the Office of National Security (ONS), and charged by Treasury Secretary Douglas Dillon to connect the Treasury Department with the broader efforts of the National Security Council. In 1977, ONS was overhauled and renamed the Office of Intelligence Support (OIS) by Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal.[2]

Inclusion of the Department of the Treasury in the Intelligence Community

The United States Intelligence Community (IC) as a formal collection of agencies was created through Executive Order 12333 ("United States Intelligence Activities") signed by President Ronald Reagan on December 4, 1981. The U.S. Department of Treasury was given intelligence responsibilities through instructions to the United States Secretary of the Treasury:

Authorizing legislation

The U.S. Congress created the Office of Intelligence and Analysis itself as a part of the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2004. [3]

Congress followed up the next year with the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005. The Act organized OIA under an umbrella Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI), alongside the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes. The leadership of OIA was made an Assistant Secretary appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.[4]

With the rest of the U.S. Intelligence Community, OIA was subject to the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act that replaced the Director of Central Intelligence with the Director of National Intelligence.[5]

Activities

With the creation of the TFI and the OIA, the Treasury Department established two secure networks for national security information: Treasury Secure Data Network (TSDN), for information classified Secret and Confidential and Treasury Foreign Intelligence Network (TFIN), classified as Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmentalized Information.[6] The data from the TFIN system is shared by OIA with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, the Under Secretary for TFI, the Undersecretary for International Affairs, OFAC, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and other components.[7] An audit of the Treasury Inspector General states that TFIN was established for 30 users, but by 2008 had grown to "approximately 130."[8]

In 2006, Eric Lichtblau and James Risen wrote about the Treasury's participation in disrupting terrorist financing following the Bush administration's signing of which invoked the President's International Emergency Economic Powers Act authorities against suspected terrorists. The article described the Treasury's Terrorist Finance Tracking Program in which it worked with two Intelligence Community members (the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency) to obtain and exploit data from Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). Responding to the article, Treasury Under Secretary for TFI Stuart Levey acknowledged the existence of the program and defended the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program as both legal and effective. The article noted claims that the data had been crucial to the capture of Riduan Isamuddin.[9] [10]

Subsequent to the exposure of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) staff wrote a memorandum summarizing the issues raised and provided a list of questions about the program to the Board. On November 26, 2006 the PCLOB sat through a briefing about the OIA's role Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, including the OIA's analysis of the SWIFT data obtained through administrative subpoena.[11] [12]

In 2006 testimony to the United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, Assistant Secretary for OIA Janice Gardner stated that OIA initiated weekly targeting sessions, led by TFI Undersecretary Stuart A. Levey and including officials from OIA, OFAC, and FinCEN and produced written assessments of possible foreign terrorist financing through non-governmental organizations. The same remarks credited OIA for authorship of 50 of its own cables, and its participation in the drafting and coordination of the National Intelligence Estimates and Central Intelligence Agency studies.[13]

In the Global War on Terror, OIA led the establishment of the Iraq Threat Finance Cells blending intelligence, military and law enforcement personnel to help identify and interdict funding streams to terrorist and insurgent networks. The model was later reproduced with the Afghan Threat Finance Cell.[14] [15] [16] [17]

A December 2019 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study of Treasury counternarcotics activities found that Office of Foreign Assets Control uses OIA-produced assessments before and after the designation of individuals for sanctions under the Kingpin Act.[18]

A March 2020 GAO study of sanctions programs estimated that OIA personnel devote "approximately half of their time" to work on sanctions implementation.[19]

Performance measures

Though OIA is an intelligence agency, it is nevertheless subject to the Government Performance and Results Act and required to identify "key factors external to the agency and beyond its control that could significantly affect the achievement of the general goals and objectives."

In 2022, the TFI reports one performance highlight related to the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, "customer satisfaction with OIA products," in its Budget-in-Brief for Fiscal Year 2023.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Congressional Budget Justification and Annual Performance Report and Plan FY 2021 . treasury.gov . Department of the Treasury Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence . 15. 20 March 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20201022025255/https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/266/06.-TFI-FY-2021-CJ.pdf. 22 Oct 2020.
  2. Web site: Strategic Direction: Fiscal Years 2012-2015 . US Treasury . 18 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20120916074838/http://www.treasury.gov/about/organizational-structure/offices/Documents/Strategic%20Direction%2008-13-12.pdf. 16 Sep 2012. 8.
  3. Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004, Title I, Sec. 105, "Office of Intelligence and Analysis of the Department of the Treasury."
  4. [Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005]
  5. "Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004."
  6. Web site: Department of the Treasury Security Classification Guide . FAS.org . Federation of American Scientists . 21 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211012051620/https://sgp.fas.org/othergov/treasury-2010.pdf . 12 Oct 2021 . 3 December 2010.
  7. Web site: FY 2008 Justification for Appropriations and Performance Plans . treasury.gov . . 21 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210412211633/https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/266/01_CJ_compiled.pdf . 12 April 2021 . OIA - TFIN Transfer from DSCIP +$3,000,000 / +0 FTE . 22.
  8. Web site: OIG-08-040 CAPITAL INVESTMENTS: Treasury Foreign Intelligence Network Project Experienced Delays and Project Management Weaknesses . Oversight.gov . Office of Inspector General Department of the Treasury . 21 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210515220934/https://www.oversight.gov/sites/default/files/oig-reports/OIG08040%20%28TFIN%20Modernization%20Project%29.pdf . 15 May 2021 . 6.
  9. News: Lichtblau, Eric . Risen, James . Eric Lichtblau . James Risen . Bank Data Is Sifted by U.S. in Secret to Block Terror . 21 March 2022 . . 23 June 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220310214418/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/washington/23intel.html . 10 March 2022.
  10. Web site: Statement of Under Secretary Stuart Levey on the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program . treasury.gov . . 21 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060924093603/http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/js4334.htm . 24 September 2006 . dead.
  11. Web site: Background Briefing - Terrorist Finance Tracking Program . National Archives Catalog . Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board . 21 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220321200435/https://catalog.archives.gov/id/184253822 . 21 March 2022.
  12. Web site: First Annual Report to Congress, March 2006 – March 2007 . National Archives Catalog. . 21 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220321123215/https://catalog.archives.gov/id/184253421 . 21 March 2022 . 30 April 2007.
  13. Web site: Testimony of Janice Gardner, Assistant Secretary Office of Intelligence and Analysis U.S. Department of the Treasury Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, the Judiciary, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies . Treasury.gov . United States Department of the Treasury . 21 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220321012936/https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/js4164 . 21 March 2022.
  14. Ireland . Leslie . 21st Century Intelligence - The Need for a One-Team-One-Fight Approach . PRISM . 15 September 2017 . 7 . 1 . 21 March 2022.
  15. Daugherty Miles . Anne . Intelligence Community Spending: Trends and Issues . Congressional Research Service . 8 Nov 2016 . 20 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220321014954/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1021223.pdf . live . 2022-03-21 .
  16. Web site: Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey Testimony Before the Senate Committee on Finance . treasury.gov . United States Department of the Treasury . 21 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111019194940/http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/hp898.aspx . 19 Oct 2011 . 1 April 2008.
  17. Conway . J. Edward . Analysis in Combat: the Deployed Threat Finance Analyst . Small Wars Journal . 5 July 2012 . 21 March 2022.
  18. Web site: U.S. Government Accountability Office . Government Accountability Office . GAO-20-112 Counternarcotics . GAO.gov . 21 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210401031419/https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-20-112.pdf . 1 Apr 2021 . 32–34.
  19. Web site: Economic Sanctions: Treasury and State Have Received Increased Resources for Sanctions Implementation but Face Hiring Challenges . GAO.gov . U.S. Government Accountability Office . 21 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200314190747/https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-20-324 . March 14, 2020.
  20. Web site: Terrorism and Financial Intelligence . treasury.gov . U.S. Department of the Treasury . 29 March 2022 . 3.