 Seal of the United States Department of the Treasury | |
| Office overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 2004 |
| Preceding office |
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| Jurisdiction | Executive branch of the United States |
| Office executive |
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| Parent department | U.S. Department of the Treasury |
| Website | Official website |
TheOffice of Intelligence and Analysis (OIA) is an agency of theUnited States Department of the Treasury responsible for the receipt, analysis, collation, and dissemination offoreign intelligence andcounterintelligence information related to the operation and responsibilities of the Treasury Department.
Organized within theOffice of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, OIA’s efforts inform and support the Treasury Department’s ability to address illicit finance and national security threats to the U.S. such as terrorists, proliferators, rogue regimes, and criminal actors.[1]
In its own account, the Office of Intelligence and Analysis traces its lineage to the pre-ConstitutionalConfederation Period and a 1782 instruction by theCongress of the Confederation toRobert 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 SecretaryDouglas Dillon to connect the Treasury Department with the broader efforts of theNational Security Council. In 1977, ONS was overhauled and renamed theOffice of Intelligence Support (OIS) by Treasury SecretaryMichael Blumenthal.[2]
TheUnited 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 theUnited States Secretary of the Treasury:
(a) Overtly collectforeign financial and monetary information;
(b) Participate with theDepartment of State in the overt collection of general foreign economic information;
(c) Produce and disseminate foreign intelligence relating to United States economic policy as required for the execution of the Secretary's responsibilities.
— "Goals, Direction, Duties And Responsibilities with Respect to the National Intelligence Effort: The Department of the Treasury",United States Intelligence Activities,Executive Order12333
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 theConsolidated Appropriations Act, 2005. The Act organized OIA under an umbrellaOffice of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI), alongside theOffice of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and theOffice 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 theIntelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act that replaced theDirector of Central Intelligence with theDirector of National Intelligence.[5]
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 classifiedSecret andConfidential and Treasury Foreign Intelligence Network (TFIN), classified asTop Secret andSensitive 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 theTreasury Inspector General states that TFIN was established for 30 users, but by 2008 had grown to "approximately 130."[8]
In 2006,Eric Lichtblau andJames Risen wrote about the Treasury's participation in disrupting terrorist financing following the Bush administration's signing ofExecutive Order13224 which invoked the President'sInternational 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 (theCentral Intelligence Agency andNational Security Agency) to obtain and exploit data fromSociety for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). Responding to the article, Treasury Under Secretary for TFIStuart 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 ofRiduan Isamuddin.[9][10]
Subsequent to the exposure of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, thePrivacy 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 throughadministrative subpoena.[11][12]
In 2006 testimony to theUnited States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, Assistant Secretary for OIAJanice B. Gardner stated that OIA initiated weekly targeting sessions, led by TFI UndersecretaryStuart A. Levey and including officials from OIA,OFAC, andFinCEN and produced written assessments of possible foreign terrorist financing throughnon-governmental organizations. The same remarks credited OIA for authorship of 50 of its own cables, and its participation in the drafting and coordination of theNational Intelligence Estimates andCentral Intelligence Agency studies.[13]
In theGlobal 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 theAfghan Threat Finance Cell.[14][15][16][17]
A December 2019U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study of Treasury counternarcotics activities found thatOffice of Foreign Assets Control uses OIA-produced assessments before and after the designation of individuals for sanctions under theKingpin 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]
Though OIA is an intelligence agency, it is nevertheless subject to theGovernment 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.
| Budget Activity | Performance Measure | FY 2021 Actual | FY 2022 Actual | FY 2023 Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terrorism and Financial Intelligence | Percent customer satisfaction with OIA products | 70% | 74% | 74% |
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| Deputy Secretary of the Treasury |  | |
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| Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs |
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| Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance |
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| Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence | ||
| Treasurer of the United States | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |