Juan Zarate
Member Since
2009
Juan Carlos Zarate serves as the Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism. In his current role, Juan is responsible for developing and overseeing the effective implementation of the U.S. government’s counterterrorism strategy.
Prior to joining the NSC, Juanserved as the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes where he led Treasury’s domestic and international efforts to attack terrorist financing, build comprehensive anti-money laundering systems, and expand the use of Treasury powers to advance national security interests. Juan also led the U.S. government’s global efforts to hunt Saddam Hussein’s assets, resulting in the return of over $3 billion of Iraqi assets from the U.S. and around the world.
Prior to working at the Department of the Treasury, Juan served as a prosecutor in the Department of Justice’s Terrorism and Violent Crime Section, where he worked on terrorism cases, such as the USS Cole investigation. Juan previously worked as a federal law clerk for Chief Judge Judith Keep in the Southern District of California.
Juan is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University and a cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School. He studied as a Rotary International Fellow at the Universidad de Salamanca, Spain.
Juan is the author of Forging Democracy, a book on the impact of U.S. foreign policy on democratization in Central America
Juan was born and raised in Santa Ana, California, and he is a member of the California Bar. He is a member of Mater Dei High School’s Ring of Honor, its honorary hall of fame.