§312 Terrorism and Financial Intelligence

Summary

Creates an Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence inside the Treasury Department to lead work against terrorist funding and other threats to the financial system. The office will be run by an Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, who is picked by the President and confirmed by the Senate. There will also be an Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing, also appointed by the President and confirmed, who reports to the Undersecretary and coordinates anti‑money‑laundering and counter‑terrorist‑financing work. The office must give policy and operational direction on things like parts of the Bank Secrecy Act, U.S. sanctions, money laundering, counterfeiting, illicit financing tied to human trafficking, intelligence analysis, and Treasury security programs. Before making any reorganization to fight money laundering or terrorist financing, the Undersecretary and the Assistant Secretary must notify two congressional committees within 72 hours. The office will include Treasury units that handle intelligence, sanctions (OFAC), asset forfeiture, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN); FinCEN will report to the Undersecretary and will have an Office of Compliance. The Treasury must pick an office inside this group to coordinate efforts to stop the illegal financing of human trafficking with other Treasury units, federal partners (including the State Department office that monitors trafficking and the interagency task force), state and local law enforcement, and foreign governments. The intelligence office will gather and analyze Treasury‑related intelligence and act as the Treasury’s link to the wider intelligence community; its chief represents Treasury in intelligence forums. Remaining enforcement powers not moved to other agencies are given to the Undersecretary. The office is treated as a law enforcement organization, may use existing Treasury staff and facilities, and the Secretary may hire people directly into competitive service jobs without following sections 3309–3318 and 2102 of title 5 and may detail employees without following section 300.301 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations.