Adam Szubin

Expertise

Topics

• Counter Proliferation
• Financial Intelligence
• International Counterterrorism
• International Law
• Money Laundering
• Sanctions
• Terrorism Litigation

Background and Education

Adam J. Szubin joined the Johns Hopkins SAIS faculty as a Distinguished Practitioner-in-Residence in May 2017. Previously, he served as the Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the Treasury Department.  In this role, Mr. Szubin led the policy, enforcement, regulatory, and intelligence functions of the Treasury Department aimed at identifying and disrupting the lines of financial support to international terrorist organizations, proliferators of weapons of mass destruction, narcotics traffickers, and other actors posing a threat to our national security or foreign policy.  During the transition in administrations in 2017, Mr. Szubin served as the Acting Secretary of the Treasury.
 
Earlier in his tenure at the Treasury, Mr. Szubin served as the Director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) from 2006–2015 and, earlier, as the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.   Prior to joining Treasury, Mr. Szubin served as Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice and worked as a trial attorney in the Civil Division, serving as a member of the Terrorism Litigation Task Force.  From 1999 to 2000, Mr. Szubin clerked for Judge Ronald Gilman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
 
Mr. Szubin received his JD, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1999, and his BA, magna cum laude, from Harvard College in 1995.  Mr. Szubin was also a Fulbright scholar. He lives with his wife and three children in Washington, DC.