It has been almost three months since President Obama formally nominated Adam Szubin as Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (“TFI”). It has been over five months since Szubin assumed the role in an acting capacity after taking over for now Deputy CIA Director David Cohen. Yet according to The Hill, Szubin’s nomination continues to languish in the Senate Banking Committee.

It’s utterly baffling that Szubin remains unconfirmed. Regardless of the political disupute surrounding a potential Iran nuclear deal, if there’s one thing both parties can agree upon is the usefulness of sanctions. Few people have contributed more to the effort than the former Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). Since taking over OFAC in 2006, sanctions have become one of, if not the, primary tools for confronting U.S. adversaries and Szubin has played a key role in building OFAC into an integral part of the U.S. national security architecture. There are few people alive who understand the ins and outs of sanctions better than Adam Szubin.

It’s not a secret that many in the compliance community were not exactly thrilled with OFAC’s transparency and license response times during Szubin’s tenure. Szubin admitted as much last year during a conference in September, acknowledging his office’s efforts have made “OFAC a four-letter word for many of you.” Journalists also routinely complain that it’s often easier to get information from the CIA than from TFI. Unfortunately, legitimate questions regarding the efficient operation of OFAC are not what are holding up the confirmation.

These relatively minor frustrations aside, there is no serious reason for the “acting” to remain part of Szubin’s title. Even if little will change substantively once Szubin is confirmed, it’s important that TFI’s work does not become yet another partisan football.

At the risk of offending Erich’s pro-Steelers sensibilities I’m going to quote Bill Belichick: Senate Banking Committee – Just do your job.