Testimony on Sanctions Programs, Particularly for Iran, Russia, and North Korea

The Treasury's Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea
testifies for a hearing on sanctions programs on September 26, 2018.

Marshall Billingslea testified for a Congressional hearing titled “Administration Goals for Major Sanctions Programs” on September 26, 2018.

His introduction by Congressman Barr details his long history of public service (at 37:35):

Today we welcome the testimony of Marshall Billingslea who was confirmed in June of 2017 as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing. In this role he helps oversee the Trump administration's efforts in administering economic sanctions programs globally.

Prior to joining Treasury Mr. Billingsley served as managing director for business intelligence services at Deloitte Advisory. He had previously held positions at the Department of Defense where he served as Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict.

Mr. Billingsley has also worked as NATO Assistant Secretary-General for Defense Investment and as a staff member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He is a recipient of the Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service. Assistant Secretary without objection your written statement will be made part of the record. The Honorable Marshall Billingslea you are now recognized for five minutes.

The House Financial Service Committee posted a press release of the event and highlighted some key takeaways. Here are some takeaways from his written testimony that echo those:

I am pleased to appear before the Committee today to discuss how the Treasury Department is using the full range of its authorities and tools to address three unique— yet in many ways related—challenges in Iran, Russia, and North Korea.

Each of these countries poses its own particular challenge to the United States, our allies, and the international order, yet there are common threads linking them together. […] On the one hand, all three countries use some similar tactics to exploit the global financial system, particularly by establishing and employing front and shell companies to mask the origin and beneficial ownership of illicit financial flows, to disguise the nature of—and intent behind— transactions. But on the other hand, these three countries differ in terms of the size of their respective economies, the extent to which they have businesses intertwined within global supply chains, and in the degree to which their financial sectors are connected to the global system.

For these various reasons, our Iran, Russia, and North Korea sanctions programs are among our most active and complex. Under the leadership of Secretary Mnuchin and Under Secretary Mandelker, we have developed tailored strategies to employ the full suite of Treasury’s powerful tools and authorities to maximum effect. This also means that in every case, we must closely examine and take into account each country’s distinct economic characteristics in addition to our broader foreign policy and national security objectives to ensure that the financial impact we seek is achieved, our national security objectives served, and disruption to the supply chains of friendly nations is minimized and international cohesion is maintained to the maximum extent practicable.

Several pieces of legislation are currently progressing in Congress with regards to sanctions. The bill "Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act" (H.R.3364) was signed into law in August of last year. And here are some recent news articles regarding U.S. sanctions.

Mr. Billingslea also recently testified before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations for the hearing "U.S.- Russia Relations." Here is his statement as posted by the Treasury.