WASHINGTON, November 8 (RIA Novosti) – The United States has become increasingly vulnerable to economic warfare following its integration into the global economic system, former US Treasury official and deputy national security adviser Juan Zarate says.
"We [the United States] have been very much the dominant force in the field of economic warfare," Zarate, who expanded the Treasury Department's powers to advance US national security interests during his tenure, said Friday, during a discussion at the annual national security law conference in Washington, DC.
According to Zarate, the United States has been the leader in the global use of sanctions, financial regulation, and using financial persuasion to influence decision-making in the private sector.
Zarate added, however, that the integration of the US economy into a globalized economic system has left it increasingly susceptible to attacks and that the United States must look at "the economic and financial battle space differently" given these financial security gaps.
US debt currently stands at over $17 trillion. According to data from the Treasury, Asia and Europe have loaned the United States over $4 trillion. Many large US companies are also foreign-owned, though such purchases are monitored for national security purposes by the Treasury.
The United States, the European Union and their allies have recently imposed several rounds of economic sanctions against Russia, over its alleged involvement in the Ukrainian crisis. Moscow has stressed that these measures threaten economic stability in the world. Russia has also imposed a food import ban on a number of countries in response to their sanctions.
