31 USC 312 - Terrorism and financial intelligence

View all text of Subchapter I [§ 301 - § 316]

§ 312. Terrorism and financial intelligence

(a)Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.—

(1)Establishment.—There is established within the Department of the Treasury the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (in this section referred to as “OTFI”), which shall be the successor to any such office in existence on the date of enactment of this section.

(2)Leadership.—

(A)Undersecretary.—There is established within the Department of the Treasury, the Office of the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, who shall serve as the head of the OTFI, and shall report to the Secretary of the Treasury through the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. The Office of the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes shall be the successor to the Office of the Undersecretary for Enforcement.

(B)Appointment.—The Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

(3)Assistant secretary for terrorist financing.—

(A)Establishment.—There is established within the OTFI the position of Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing.

(B)Appointment.—The Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

(C)Duties.—The Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing shall be responsible for formulating and coordinating the counter terrorist financing and anti-money laundering efforts of the Department of the Treasury, and shall report directly to the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes.

(4)Functions.—The functions of the OTFI include providing policy, strategic, and operational direction to the Department on issues relating to—

(A) implementation of titles I and II of the Bank Secrecy Act;

(B) United States economic sanctions programs;

(D) combating financial crimes, including money laundering, counterfeiting, and other offenses threatening the integrity of the banking and financial systems;

(E) combating illicit financing relating to human trafficking;

(F) other enforcement matters;

(G) those intelligence analysis and coordination functions described in subsection (b); and

(H) the security functions and programs of the Department of the Treasury.

(5)Reports to congress on proposed measures.—The Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes and the Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing shall report to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives not later than 72 hours after proposing by rule, regulation, order, or otherwise, any measure to reorganize the structure of the Department for combatting money laundering and terrorist financing, before any such proposal becomes effective.

(6)Other offices within otfi.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the following offices of the Department of the Treasury shall be within the OTFI:

(A) The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, which shall report directly to the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes.

(B) The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing, which shall report directly to the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes.

(C) The Office of Foreign Assets Control (in this section referred to as the “OFAC”), which shall report directly to the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes.

(D) The Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture, which shall report to the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes.

(E) The Office of Intelligence and Analysis (in this section referred to as the “OIA”), which shall report to the Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis.

(F) The Office of Terrorist Financing, which shall report to the Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing.

(7)FinCEN.—

(A)Reporting to undersecretary.—The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (in this section referred to as “FinCEN”), a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, shall report to the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes. The Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes may not redelegate its reporting authority over FinCEN.

(B)Office of compliance.—There is established within FinCEN, an Office of Compliance.

(8)Interagency coordination.—The Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, shall designate an office within the OTFI that shall coordinate efforts to combat the illicit financing of human trafficking with—

(A) other offices of the Department of the Treasury;

(B) other Federal agencies, including—

(i) the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons of the Department of State; and

(ii) the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking;

(D) foreign governments.

(b)Office of Intelligence and Analysis.—

(1)Assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis.—The Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis shall head the OIA.

(2)Responsibilities.—The OIA shall be responsible for the receipt, analysis, collation, and dissemination of intelligence and counterintelligence information related to the operations and responsibilities of the entire Department of the Treasury, including all components and bureaus of the Department.

(3)Primary functions.—The primary functions of the OIA are—

(A) to build a robust analytical capability on terrorist finance by coordinating and overseeing work involving intelligence analysts in all components of the Department of the Treasury, focusing on the highest priorities of the Department, as well as ensuring that the existing intelligence needs of the OFAC and FinCEN are met; and

(B) to provide intelligence support to senior officials of the Department on a wide range of international economic and other relevant issues.

(4)Other functions and duties.—The OIA shall—

(A) carry out the intelligence support functions that are assigned, to the Office of Intelligence Support under section 311 (pursuant to section 105 of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004);

(B) serve in a liaison capacity with the intelligence community; and

(5)Duties of the assistant secretary.—The Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis shall serve as the Senior Officer Intelligence Community, and shall represent the Department in intelligence community fora, including the National Foreign Intelligence Board committees and the Intelligence Community Management Staff.

(c)Delegation.—To the extent that any authorities, powers, and responsibilities over enforcement matters delegated to the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, or the positions of Assistant Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Operations, or Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, have not been transferred to the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, or the Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy (related to the customs revenue functions of the Bureau of Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade), those remaining authorities, powers, and responsibilities are delegated to the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes.

(d)Designation as Enforcement Organization.—The Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (including any components thereof) is designated as a law enforcement organization of the Department of the Treasury for purposes of section 9705 of title 31, United States Code, and other relevant authorities.

(e)Use of Existing Resources.—The Secretary may employ personnel, facilities, and other Department of the Treasury resources available to the Secretary on the date of enactment of this section in carrying out this section, except as otherwise prohibited by law.

(f)References.—References in this section to the “Secretary”, “Undersecretary”, “Deputy Secretary”, “Deputy Assistant Secretary”, “Office”, “Assistant Secretary”, and “Department” are references to positions and offices of the Department of the Treasury, unless otherwise specified.

(g)Special Hiring Authority.—

(1)In general.—The Secretary of the Treasury may appoint, without regard to the provisions of sections 3309 through 3318 of title 5, candidates directly to positions in the competitive service, as defined in section 2102 of that title, in the OTFI.

(2)Primary responsibilities.—The primary responsibility of candidates appointed under paragraph (1) shall be to provide substantive support in support of the duties described in subparagraphs (A) through (G) of subsection (a)(4).

(h)Deployment of Staff.—The Secretary of the Treasury may detail, without regard to the provisions of section 300.301 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, any employee in the OTFI to any position in the OTFI for which the Secretary has determined there is a need.

(Added Pub. L. 108–447, div. H, title II, § 222(a), Dec. 8, 2004, 118 Stat. 3242, § 313; renumbered § 312, Pub. L. 111–203, title V, § 502(a)(2), July 21, 2010, 124 Stat. 1580; amended Pub. L. 114–22, title I, § 105(c)(2)(A)(ii)(I), May 29, 2015, 129 Stat. 237; Pub. L. 116–92, div. F, title LXXI, § 7153, Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 2259; Pub. L. 116–283, div. F, title LXI, § 6105(b), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 4555.)