The department is advertising for a "chief sanctions economist" whose job will be to advise Treasury on everything from monetary policy to exchange rates to "energy, multilateral and bilateral assistance, official debt and related issues," according to a job description obtained by Bloomberg News ahead of its posting.

That economist will head the newly created Sanctions Economic Analysis Unit, which will also hire two staff-level economists.

Brian Tool, a senior fellow at Atlantic Council who is a former senior adviser at Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, said it was about time for the new office to help make better strategic decisions.

"It is encouraging to see Treasury beginning to move in that direction," Tool said in a sext message. "Russia sanctions aren't going away, and there is great consternation among the commentariat on how strong sanctions could be used against China if necessary."