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6/22/2021

Opening Statements of Nominees before the U.S. Department of the Treasury for the Senate Committee on Banking, …

Opening Statements of Nominees before the U.S. Department of
the Treasury for the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing,
and Urban Affairs
June 22, 2021

WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, June 22, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and
Urban A airs will hold a hearing on the pending nominations of Brian E. Nelson to be Under
Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Crimes and Elizabeth Rosenberg to be
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing. The opening statements of the
nominees are below.

OPENING STATEMENT OF B RIAN E. NELSON B EF ORE THE
SENATE COMMITTEE ON B ANKING, HOUSING AND URB AN
AF FAIRS
JUNE 22, 2021
Chairman Brown, Ranking Member Toomey, and Members of the Committee, it is a privilege
to come before you today as President Biden’s nominee for Under Secretary of the Treasury
for Terrorism and Financial Crimes.
Thank you, Senator Padilla, for your generous introduction. I also want to thank President
Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary Yellen for placing their confidence in me.
I am joined today by my parents, Eddie and Carol, who have been loving role models for me
and my brother. I also want to especially thank my wife, Lane, for her support and shared
commitment to public service. I am so proud of her service through the pandemic as the
chief executive of our home city, which is why she is unable to join me this morning. She is
also my partner in raising our wonderful 7-year-old son, Drew.
Respect for service has guided my family across generations. In 1906, my great-grandfather
became the first African American letter carrier of a small Mississippi town. His life was
threatened for integrating the postal service, but his courage inspired a commitment to civic
pursuits that spread among his children and endures today. My grandfather went on to serve
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Opening Statements of Nominees before the U.S. Department of the Treasury for the Senate Committee on Banking, …

in both World War II and the Korean War, and my father also served in the military before
becoming an air tra ic controller.
My mother’s father also spent much of his professional life as a letter carrier, and he
motivated his children to pursue rich, community-oriented lives. His daughters found careers
in public education and his youngest, my mother, was a special education elementary school
teacher.
My parents’ careers were stressful and demanding, but they approached their roles with
dedication, proud of their contributions to our broader community. If I am confirmed, I will
undertake the responsibilities of the Under Secretary with that same dedication.
I am keenly aware of the critical responsibilities associated with the role of Under Secretary. I
am humbled by this nomination to lead Treasury’s e ort to disrupt and sever lines of
financial support for threats to our national security domestically and around the globe, and
to strengthen the integrity of the U.S. financial system. The work of Treasury’s dedicated and
skilled intelligence and enforcement personnel is on the front lines of our e ort to protect
the homeland and American interests against terrorists, criminals, and other malign actors,
including cybercriminals perpetrating ransomware attacks. If confirmed, I look forward to
working with these dedicated men and women, and in collaboration with others across our
government, our private sector and with our foreign partners in this e ort.
Over my career, I have had the privilege to support the country’s national security mission in
the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Early in my career, I served as a special counsel and
then as deputy chief of sta of the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of
Justice. One of my core responsibilities was to oversee the economic national-security work
of the Division’s Foreign Investment Review Sta , which participates in the Treasury-led
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. In that work, I came to understand
the critical role of economic and financial tools in supporting our national security.
Following my leadership at the Justice Department, I held senior roles in the California
Department of Justice, including policy chief. As policy chief, I led and executed e orts to
combat transnational criminal organizations, dismantle human tra icking networks, and
build state and international partnerships to stop money laundering and cybercrimes. I
worked directly with my Mexican counterparts and other leaders in the Mexican government
to coordinate these e orts.

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Opening Statements of Nominees before the U.S. Department of the Treasury for the Senate Committee on Banking, …

Most recently, I have served as a senior executive on the organizing committee for the 2028
Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. In this role, I currently direct the e ort to
make the 2028 Games secure, across all levels of government. This has been an extensive
planning and coordination e ort, because we anticipate this will be the largest peacetime
assembly in world history.
If confirmed, I look forward to working with members of this Committee, on a bipartisan
basis, to advance our shared interest in supporting and empowering the talented group of
national-security professionals who are safeguarding our financial system against illicit use
and combatting terrorist facilitators, proliferators, and others who seek to harm the United
States.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration, and I look forward to your questions.

OPENING STATEMENT OF ELIZAB ETH ROSENB ERG B EF ORE
THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON B ANKING, HOUSING, AND
URB AN AF FAIRS
JUNE 22, 2021
Chairman Brown, Ranking Member Toomey, and Members of the Committee, it is a privilege
to appear before you today. I am grateful to the Committee for considering my nomination. I
would like to thank President Biden, Vice President Harris, Secretary Yellen, and Deputy
Secretary Adeyemo for placing their confidence in me. In addition, I would like to thank
Senator Leahy for his kind introduction.
On a personal note, I would like to thank my family for their invaluable support: My children
Sophie, Annie, and Alex, and my husband, Jonathan, whose love, help, and encouragement
makes it possible to be in the position to undertake the responsibilities associated with the
role for which I have been nominated.
I would also like to acknowledge my brother, Eli, as well as my parents, Jean and David
Rosenberg, who were my first teachers of foreign policy, economics, and the necessity of
working for democracy, peace, and human rights. Also, my grandmother Eleanor Gibson and
great aunt Emily Jack who, as dedicated professionals at a time when it was rare for women
to be in their lines of work, were powerful examples of diligence and courage to contribute
to scientific advancement and national security.

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In coming before the Committee today, I am keenly aware of the significant responsibilities
of the Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing, leading the o ice that formulates and
coordinates counter-terrorist financing and anti-money laundering e orts of the Department
of the Treasury. This work requires close collaboration with Congress, across the executive
branch, and with foreign counterparts, the private sector, and civil society. It directly supports
U.S. goals of strengthening the integrity of our financial system and facilitating a robust
economic recovery. The work serves to protect financial institutions and systems of
monetary exchange from illicit finance and abuse by terrorists, criminals, kleptocrats, and
those who threaten peace and security. It also directly and immediately advances core U.S.
foreign policy interests, including as related to Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and other
security threats.
The intertwined nature of U.S. economic strength and national security requires a creative,
rigorous, and targeted approach in the use of economic instruments to advance U.S.
interests. Now, in an era when Treasury’s financial tools are o en looked to as a first resort
to combat threats, and when the United States faces significant international competition, a
carefully calibrated, strategic approach to anti-money laundering and the use of financial
measures is more important than ever. So too is a commitment to work with allies and
partners in advancing this critical work.
Since 2009, when I first joined the o ice I have now been nominated to lead, I have dedicated
myself to advancing anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing policy and
cra ing targeted strategies for the use of sanctions.
I am grateful for the opportunities I have had to learn from the policy pioneers of the
contemporary U.S. approach to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing
e orts. They include Democrats and Republicans, former senior o icials at the Department
of the Treasury and Congressional leaders, many of whom have served on this Committee.
They also include the hard working, expert Treasury career sta .
Leading the economics and national security program at the Center for a New American
Security for eight years, I benefited from exposure to a wide array of stakeholder
perspectives on anti-money laundering, illicit finance, and sanctions policy including and
beyond the U.S. government. I engaged with representatives from civil society, the private
sector, and the diplomatic community on these policy issues.
I have been honored to testify before Congress and brief bipartisan groups of Members and
Congressional sta on anti-money laundering, sanctions, and national security policy on
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several occasions. If confirmed, I intend to continue this collaborative engagement with
Congress to advance our shared economic and security interests.
In closing, I want to once again thank the Committee for its consideration of my nomination.
I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.
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