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David S. Cohen
Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing

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David S. Cohen was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 1, 2009 as the Department of the Treasury's Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing. In this role, Cohen is responsible for formulating and coordinating the counterterrorist financing and anti-money laundering efforts for the Department of the Treasury. He is a key member of the Obama Administration’s national security team, focusing his efforts on developing strategies to combat the financial support networks behind a wide range of threats, including terrorist groups, organized criminal enterprises and those engaged in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. He directly supervises the work of the Treasury Department’s Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes and the Treasury Executive Office of Asset Forfeiture.

Cohen returned to the Treasury in 2009 from the Washington law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where he practiced for seven years. His practice at WilmerHale focused on civil and criminal litigation, the defense of regulatory investigations into accounting and financial fraud, and anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance advice for a broad range of financial institutions including banks, broker-dealers, insurance companies, mutual funds and hedge funds.

Cohen first joined the Department of the Treasury in 1999, working in the Office of the General Counsel as Senior Counsel to then General Counsel, Neal S. Wolin. In that position, Cohen was involved in crafting legislation that formed the basis of Title III of the USA PATRIOT Act, the 2001 update to the Bank Secrecy Act that provided Treasury new tools to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Serving under two administrations in the General Counsel’s Office, first as Associate Deputy General Counsel and later as Acting Deputy General Counsel, Cohen advised senior officials on a range of legal and policy issues, including the Department’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing policies

Prior to joining Treasury, Cohen practiced law for nine years at the Washington law firm Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin LLP, where he specialized in white collar criminal defense and civil litigation. From 1989 to 1990, Cohen served as a law clerk to the Honorable Norman P. Ramsey, United States District Judge for the District of Maryland. He conducted post-graduate research on nuclear crisis management from 1985-1986.

Cohen received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1989, and his B.A., magna cum laude, from Cornell University in 1985.

Last Updated: January 22, 2010