Stuart A. Levey

Stuart A. Levey is the incumbent and first Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence within the United States Department of the Treasury. He was sworn in on July 21, 2004. According to the Bush administration, Stuart Levey has played a central role in their efforts to combat North Korea's and Iran's illicit conduct in the international financial system. Prior to his nomination, Stuart Levey served as the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice. He had previously served as an Associate Deputy Attorney General and as the Chief of Staff of the Deputy Attorney General.cite web | title="U.S. Treasury - Biography of Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism & Financial Crimes" | url=http://www.treas.gov/organization/bios/levey-e.html | accessdate= September 26 | accessyear= 2007 ]

Prior to joining the Justice Department in 2001, Mr. Levey spent 11 years in private practice at the Washington law firm Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin LLP (which merged into Baker Botts, LLP). He had a litigation practice with a special emphasis on white collar criminal defense. He also clerked for Judge Laurence Silberman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1989 through 1990. In 1986 he graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude, and in 1989 he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.

Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence

Stuart Levey has said, "If I could somehow snap my fingers and cut off the funding from one country, it would be Saudi Arabia." No one identified by the United States and the United Nations as a terror financier has been prosecuted by the Saudis, he elaborated. [cite news|title=Saudis said failing to crack down on Al-Qaeda donors|publisher="Straits Times"|date=September 12, 2007|url=http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/World/STIStory_157194.html] He has accused Iran of facilitating missile exports to North Korea, saying Bank Sepah has been facilitating business with North Korea's chief ballistic missile-related exporter, KOMID. [cite news|title=US accuses of Iran facilitating export of missiles to DPRK|publisher="CCTV International"|date=January 10, 2007|url=http://www.cctv.com/english/20070110/104595.shtml] When the Department of the Treasury moved to freeze the bank accounts and financial assets of the Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology, the Electronics Institute and the National Standards and Calibration Laboratory, he stated that Syria is using official government organizations to develop nonconventional weapons and the missiles to deliver them. [cite news|author=Associated Press|title=U.S. Treasury moves to clamp down on Syrian entities accused of spreading weapons|publisher="International Herald Tribune"|date=January 4, 2007|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/04/america/NA_GEN_US_Terror_Financing.php]

In June 2006, it was revealed that counterterrorism officials had gained access to financial records from a vast international database of banking transactions involving Americans and others in the United States. In response to concerns about privacy issues, Stuart Levey said that the program "has provided us with a unique and powerful window into the operations of terrorist networks and is, without doubt, a legal and proper use of our authorities." [cite news|first=Lichtblau|last=Eric|coauthors=Risen, James|title=Bank Data Is Sifted by U.S. in Secret to Block Terror|publisher="The New York Times"|date=June 23, 2006]

Criticism

According to "The New York Times", the failure of the United States to carry out sanctions against many Iranian companies and individuals is cited by European diplomats as an example of America failing to do what it has promised. Valerie Lincy of Iran Watch has said, "The United States now lags many other countries in enforcing sanctions that the United Nations has already voted."cite news|first=Steven R.|last=Weissman|title=Lack of ID Data Impedes U.N. Sanctions Against Iran|publisher="The New York Times"|date=September 17, 2007] The "Tehran Times" wrote that the U.S. Treasury has increased pressure on foreign banks not to deal with sanctions against Iran, including performing "U-turn transactions," which allow U.S. banks to process payments involving Iran that begin and end with a non-Iranian foreign bank. [cite news|title=Iran’s Japanese oil clients told to replace dollar with yen|publisher="Tehran Times"|date=September 20, 2007|url=http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=153738]

In reply to Valerie Lincy's comments, Stuart Levey said that the United States has tougher sanctions on Iran than any other country. He said that because their list of organizations and individuals involved in financial crime is accurate, it is America's list that "is by and large used by financial institutions around the world."

References