The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Home | Office of Foreign Assets Control administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions against targeted foreign countries and regimes, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, proliferating weapons of mass destruction, and other threats to U.S. national security, foreign policy, and economic activities. Before the War of 1812, Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin Albert Gallatin (1801 – 1814) | U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed economic sanctions against Great Britain.  OFAC’s current structure dates to December 1950 when President Harry Truman, after China’s entry into the Korean War, declared a national emergency blocking all Chinese and North Korean assets subject to U.S. jurisdiction.

OFAC’s legal authorities derive from  31 USC 312 31 USC 312: Terrorism and financial intelligence  and 31 CFR 500-599 eCFR :: 31 CFR Chapter V — Office of Foreign Assets Control, Department of the Treasury.  Key OFAC information resources include the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN) sdnlist.pdf featuring individuals and organizations whose assets and property are blocked from doing business in the U.S. or with U.S. companies and financial institutions, the Sectoral Sanctions Identification (SSI) List ssilist.pdf featuring individuals determined to be operating in the Russian economy according to Executive Order 13662 (2014) DCPD-201400179.pdf with particular emphasis on Russian defense, engineering, energy, financial services, and metals and mining sectors.  OFAC’s website also includes information on U.S. sanctions against multiple countries and other organizations and illicit trading activities.

Treasury’s Office of Terrorism & Financial Intelligence FY 2026 congressional budget request TFI FY 2026 BIB was for $237.662 million and for 659 employees.

This blog post was submitted by Bert Chapman, Purdue University.