§225 Reports, Evaluations, and Research Regarding Drug Interdiction at and Between Ports of Entry

Summary

The Secretary of Homeland Security must, within one year after December 23, 2022, work with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to research new technology that can find and target illegal fentanyl, fentanyl-like drugs, and the chemicals used to make them. That research must try to detect low-purity fentanyl, fake pressed pills, and pill‑press molds, and look at nonintrusive or noninvasive screening tools and other advanced ways to spot such fake pills. The Secretary must also set up a program to gather available data and create measures that show how well DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and other federal agencies’ technologies and strategies detect or stop trafficked fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, and precursor chemicals at and between land, air, and sea ports of entry. The data can include detection rates at ports, investigations and intelligence about where the drugs come from inside the United States, and other useful measures. The Secretary may update the program as needed. Using that data, the Secretary must give a report to several House and Senate committees within one year after December 23, 2022, and every two years after that, analyzing how current and pilot technologies at and between ports perform. The Comptroller General must, within one year after each of the first three such reports, send those same committees a report evaluating and, if appropriate, recommending improvements to the data collection and the measures used.