The Power of OFAC: The Office of Foreign Assets Control

The podcast discusses the significant influence and power held by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), also known as the sanctions office. OFAC, a small agency with around 300 employees, manages and enforces economic sanctions that impact trillions of dollars of global transactions. It controls various sanctions programs targeting countries like Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Syria, North Korea, and Cuba. Despite its crucial role, OFAC operates on a tight budget and lacks adequate resources to fully enforce sanctions. The podcast highlights the potential consequences of this underfunding on national and global security.