From Publishers Weekly
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.)
Zarate, senior official in the Treasury in George W. Bush’s White House, describes a new brand of financial war waged by the U.S. after 9/11 that has continued under President Obama’s administration. This warfare is a set of financial strategies harnessing the international financial and commercial systems to ostracize rogue actors and cause great pain by constricting their funding flows. On October 8, 2012, Iranian president Ahmadinejad stated that a hidden war is under way . . . a kind of war through which the enemy assumes it can defeat Iran. He was right, but this warfare is no longer secret, and it’s been used in the past decade for national security interests against al-Qaeda, North Korea, Iraq, and Syria. Zarate’s lessons about financial power include carefully monitoring our techniques to ensure we retain that power, and his follow the money and financial-network analysis highlights emerging threats and enemy weaknesses that produce valuable insight into national security issues. This thought-provoking book will contribute to the ongoing discussion about leveraging twenty-first-century financial power. --Mary Whaley
Review
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.”
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.”
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.”
Stewart Baker, Wall Street Journal
“Mr. Zarate brings verve and the joy of combat to this and other tales… In Mr. Zarate's hands, what could have been a dry series of think-tank papers becomes a lively narrative filled with heroes, villains and fools.”
Geoff Dyer, Financial Times
"An entertaining insider's account of America's ‘new breed of financial power'... full of interesting accounts of the way smart sanctions were applied... a valuable history of a hidden but essential part of America's response to 9/11.”
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."
Peter Bergen, author of Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden, from 9/11 to Abbottabad
“Juan Zarate is known as one of the world's leading experts on terrorism. His new book is the riveting account of how the United States has gone to war financially with terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and rogue states such as Iran. Treasury's War is deeply researched and well written and is the definitive narrative of this hitherto largely unknown war.”
Admiral Mike Mullen, 17th Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
"Juan Zarate has written an exceptional book about a vital area of our national security very few people understand. I observed first-hand the evolution and targeting of illegal financing led by Zarate and other pioneers who remain on the frontier of fighting international corruption. Juan's insights will educate every reader."
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.”
Library Journal
"A unique view into the new and potentially devastating world of fiscal warfare… Zarate's well-documented work gives a firsthand report of strategies not often known or publicized in this newest and perhaps most effective form of waging war.”
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.”
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.”
CHOICE
“Well qualified to provide readers with an insider's view, [Zarate] describes innovative and integrated financial warfare techniques that have proved effective in neutralizing and weakening such adversaries as Al Qaeda, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, and Syria.”
Mark Dubowitz and Annie Fixler, The Journal of International Security Affairs
"Juan Zarate's book is a richly deserved celebration of their unsung success--and an essential guide to how their financial power can be most effectively used."
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 advisor 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 NewsHour, NPR, and CNN, and has written for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and more. He and his family live in Alexandria, Virginia. Follow him on Twitter: @JCZarate1
