November 15, 2013
Zarate (senior advisor, Ctr. for Strategic & Intl. Studies; senior national security analyst for CBS News), formerly an assistant secretary to the U.S. Treasury Department and a national security advisor, provides a unique view into the new and potentially devastating world of fiscal warfare. This blow-by-blow first-person account documents the behind-the-scenes financial machinations that the U.S. Treasury Department has been using since 9/11 to attack countries such as Iran, North Korea, and Syria as well as terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda. According to the book, fewer boots on the ground and more hands in their pockets are the techniques proven to be key components in leveraging our influence in these countries. Of course, turnabout is seen as fair play, and China and Russia are among the countries increasingly trying to use these same weapons on us, particularly since the 2008 recession, which weakened the global economy. VERDICT While quite lengthy and somewhat overly focused on operational details and minutiae, 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. Purchase where there is interest.--Susan Hurst, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH
Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
July 29, 2013
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.
June 15, 2013
How the United States uses economic embargoes and financial tools as weapons against murderous terrorist groups and "rogue states" such as North Korea, Iran and Syria. Zarate, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is a former federal prosecutor who joined the U.S. Treasury Department after the 9/11 attacks to figure out ways to constrict the financing of terrorist groups. Relying heavily on anecdotes, acronyms and actual case studies, he provides detailed explanations of secretive operations far less publicized than ground wars and drone strikes. He builds the saga around a small group within the Treasury Department who gather regularly to develop new policies of economic warfare, coordinate those policies with fellow government agencies (such as the State Department), and also negotiate with banks and other private-sector institutions. Although Zarate's work carries the immediacy associated with the so-called war on terror, he wisely places financial warfare in historical context, going all the way back to 432 B.C., when the Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta battled for hegemony by employing economic sanctions as part of their strategies. Moving forward in history, the author notes the economic blockage of the Confederacy by Union forces during the Civil War. Since Zarate worked on economic sanctions during his tenure in the Bush administration, he is able to provide a you-are-there sense that will quite likely draw readers into what otherwise might have been an arcane account. Zarate is a patriot but not a blind patriot. While proud of his work, he is also willing to point out mistakes in the execution of policy and shortcomings in the overall strategy of the U.S. His epilogue sets out "lessons learned" with suggestions for improvement. A bracing account by a knowledgeable authority.
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August 1, 2013
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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)