Difference between revisions of "Stuart A. Levey"

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Levey has been a leading figure inside the government pushing for sanctions against Iran. According to Ron Kampeas of JTA, Levey was 'given a big stick when the Bush administration made him the first under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.' Levey, according to Kampeas's flattering portrait, 'has made the office into a tool that has effectively squeezed Iran and North Korea and hindered the ambitions of terrorist groups.' During a 16 June 2010 press conference at the White House in which Levey announced a new set of sanctions against Iran, [[Tim Geithner]] introduced him thus:
 
Levey has been a leading figure inside the government pushing for sanctions against Iran. According to Ron Kampeas of JTA, Levey was 'given a big stick when the Bush administration made him the first under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.' Levey, according to Kampeas's flattering portrait, 'has made the office into a tool that has effectively squeezed Iran and North Korea and hindered the ambitions of terrorist groups.' During a 16 June 2010 press conference at the White House in which Levey announced a new set of sanctions against Iran, [[Tim Geithner]] introduced him thus:
 
:Stuart has been the chief architect of our strategy to impose growing financial costs on Iran for its continued defiance and he has played a major leadership role on this issue internationally.<ref name="jta"/>
 
:Stuart has been the chief architect of our strategy to impose growing financial costs on Iran for its continued defiance and he has played a major leadership role on this issue internationally.<ref name="jta"/>
According to the New York Times, 'he has managed to persuade the U.S. government to back his project', which mandates 'mobiliz[ing] the private sector, starting with the world’s banks, to join the effort to sanction Iran. His idea was to prevent a country reliant on global trade...from being able to do business outside its borders.'<ref>Robin Wright, [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/magazine/02IRAN-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all Stuart Levey's War], New York Times Magazine, 31 October 2010</ref>  
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According to the New York Times, 'he has managed to persuade the U.S. government to back his project', which mandates 'mobiliz[ing] the private sector, starting with the world’s banks, to join the effort to sanction Iran. His idea was to prevent a country reliant on global trade...from being able to do business outside its borders.'<ref name="rw">Robin Wright, [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/magazine/02IRAN-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all Stuart Levey's War], New York Times Magazine, 31 October 2010</ref>  
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===Persuading Rice===
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According to the New York Times,
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:In February 2006, his colleagues in the Treasury Department persuaded Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice  to let him travel with her to the Middle East, and he hoped to make his pitch at some point along the way. He waited, stop after stop...Finally, on the way home, he was summoned to Rice’s private cabin to lay out his seven-point proposal.<ref name="rw"/>
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However, his efforts have been resisted by businesses. According to the Washington Post in 2006, Levey was having 'difficulty persuading allies to sign on to a plan that will cost them in Iranian trade and oil.'<ref name="wp"/>
 
However, his efforts have been resisted by businesses. According to the Washington Post in 2006, Levey was having 'difficulty persuading allies to sign on to a plan that will cost them in Iranian trade and oil.'<ref name="wp"/>
  

Revision as of 21:25, 24 September 2010

Stuart A. Levey (born 1963) has served as the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (a post that previously did not exist) since 21 July 2004. Under Obama he also served briefly as the as Acting Treasury Secretary until Obama nominee Timothy Geithner was confirmed to the post.[1] He studied at Harvard, and his thesis advisor was Martin Peretz. He also spent a year studying at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, where he wrote an undergraduate thesis on the extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, the founder of Kach.[2]

According to the Washington Post, Levey, 'has a strong hand in many of President Bush's top foreign policy and national security initiatives, from counterterrorism to money laundering to weapons of mass destruction. He is the senior Treasury official overseeing a classified program that taps a global database of confidential financial records in search of terrorist transactions.'[2]

Israel Lobby connections

By his own admission Levey 'welcomes submissions' from Israel lobby groups like Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. His former analyst Jonathan Schanzer is now the vice president of FDD. He has been honoured by the American Jewish Committee with the organization's 2009 'Public Service Award'. 'We were absolutely delighted when the Obama administration chose to ask him to stay in office,' says David Harris, executive director of the AJC. According to Kampeas:

Before joining the Bush administration in 2001, Levey was in law practice for 11 years at the Washington firm Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin, where he worked with Nathan Lewin, well known for his work on behalf of Jewish groups.[3]

Mentors

According to the Washington Post, Levey's mentors include

Target Iran

Levey has been a leading figure inside the government pushing for sanctions against Iran. According to Ron Kampeas of JTA, Levey was 'given a big stick when the Bush administration made him the first under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.' Levey, according to Kampeas's flattering portrait, 'has made the office into a tool that has effectively squeezed Iran and North Korea and hindered the ambitions of terrorist groups.' During a 16 June 2010 press conference at the White House in which Levey announced a new set of sanctions against Iran, Tim Geithner introduced him thus:

Stuart has been the chief architect of our strategy to impose growing financial costs on Iran for its continued defiance and he has played a major leadership role on this issue internationally.[3]

According to the New York Times, 'he has managed to persuade the U.S. government to back his project', which mandates 'mobiliz[ing] the private sector, starting with the world’s banks, to join the effort to sanction Iran. His idea was to prevent a country reliant on global trade...from being able to do business outside its borders.'[4]

Persuading Rice

According to the New York Times,

In February 2006, his colleagues in the Treasury Department persuaded Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to let him travel with her to the Middle East, and he hoped to make his pitch at some point along the way. He waited, stop after stop...Finally, on the way home, he was summoned to Rice’s private cabin to lay out his seven-point proposal.[4]

However, his efforts have been resisted by businesses. According to the Washington Post in 2006, Levey was having 'difficulty persuading allies to sign on to a plan that will cost them in Iranian trade and oil.'[2]

SWIFT Controversy

Levey's single major brush with controversy was his role in accessing the database at SWIFT, the international grouping that coordinates interbank transactions. President George W. Bush authorized such access after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and The New York Times revealed the U.S. Treasury's use of the access in 2006...The Belgium-based grouping objected, but the story -- unlike other revelations of Bush-era privacy incursions -- slipped out of sight.[3]

Affiliations

Staff

References

  1. Staff Reporter, Levey to head U.S. Treasury temporarily: official, Reuters, 15 January 2009
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Dafna Linzer, 'The Money Man In the Terror Fight; Levey Helps Lead Treasury Efforts,' The Washington Post, 5 July 2006 Wednesday, SECTION: A Section; A11
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ron Kampeas, Stuart Levey: The man trying to make anti-Iran sanctions work, JTA, 29 June 2010
  4. 4.0 4.1 Robin Wright, Stuart Levey's War, New York Times Magazine, 31 October 2010