I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 10459 

To establish the Joint Task Force to Counter the Illicit Synthetic Narcotics. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 17, 2024 

Mr. NEWHOUSE (for himself, Mr. AUCHINCLOSS, Mr. DUNN of Florida, Mr. 

KHANNA, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. TORRES of New York, 

Mrs. STEEL, Mr. MOOLENAAR, and Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, 

and in addition to the Committees on Financial Services, Foreign Affairs, 

and Intelligence (Permanent Select), for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish the Joint Task Force to Counter the Illicit 

Synthetic Narcotics. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Joint Task Force to 

5 Counter Illicit Synthetic Narcotics Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The United States is experiencing a crisis 

2 of substance abuse and addiction resulting in the 

3 deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. Most 

4 of these deaths involve some form of opioids. 

5 (2) There are many elements of Federal, State, 

6 territorial, Tribal, and local governments working to 

7 combat the opioid epidemic. 

8 (3) No central entity exists at the appropriate 

9 level whereby different agencies can share informa10 tion and coordinate efforts to combat the opioid cri11 sis. 

12 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF JOINT TASK FORCE TO 

13 COUNTER ILLICIT SYNTHETIC NARCOTICS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established a Joint Task 

15 Force to Counter Illicit Synthetic Narcotics (hereby re16 ferred to as ‘‘JTF–ISN’’). 

17 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The JTF–ISN shall include rep18 resentation from each of the following entities: 

19 (1) The Department of Justice including the— 

20 (A) Drug Enforcement Administration; 

21 (B) Federal Bureau of Investigation; and 

22 (C) Assistant U.S. Attorneys and Trial At23 torneys, as the Director deems appropriate. 

24 (2) The Department of the Treasury including 

25 the— 


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1 (A) Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force; 

2 (B) Internal Revenue Service Criminal In3 vestigation; 

4 (C) Financial Crimes Enforcement Net5 work; 

6 (D) Office of Foreign Assets Control; and 

7 (E) Office of Intelligence and Analysis. 

8 (3) The Department of Homeland Security in9 cluding— 

10 (A) Homeland Security Investigations; 

11 (B) U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

12 including the National Targeting Center; 

13 (C) Immigration and Customs Enforce14 ment (ICE); and 

15 (D) the United States Coast Guard. 

16 (4) The Department of State. 

17 (5) The Department of Commerce. 

18 (6) The Department of Defense. 

19 (7) The Office of the Director of National Intel20 ligence. 

21 (8) Any other agency the Director deems appro22 priate (collectively the ‘‘JTF–ISN Members’’). 

23 (c) DIRECTOR OF JOINT TASK FORCE TO ILLICIT

24 SYNTHETIC NARCOTICS.— 


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1 (1) The JTF–ISN shall be led by a Director 

2 who shall be appointed by the President, by and 

3 with the advice and consent of the Senate. 

4 (2) The Director shall report directly to the At5 torney General. 

6 (4) The Director shall be compensated at the 

7 rate of basic pay prescribed for level II of the Execu8 tive Schedule under section 5313 of title 5, United 

9 States Code. 

10 (d) REPORTING.— 

11 (1) The Director of the JTF–ISN shall report 

12 to the Attorney General on matters related to the 

13 budget, programs, and activities of the JTF–ISN, 

14 and to the President on the planning and progress 

15 of joint counter-illicit synthetic narcotics operations. 

16 (2) The Director shall submit a report, and 

17 upon request of the chairman or ranking member of 

18 any such committee, a briefing to the Committee on 

19 the Judiciary and the Committee on Homeland Se20 curity of the House of Representatives and the Com21 mittee on the Judiciary and the Committee on 

22 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

23 Senate— 

24 (A) not later than 6 months after the date 

25 of the enactment of this Act; and 


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1 (B) every 6 months thereafter. 

2 (3) Each report and requested briefing shall in3 clude— 

4 (A) a comprehensive plan covering the 2- 

5 year period after submission of the report— 

6 (i) a description of the goals of the 

7 JTF–ISN; 

8 (ii) description of areas of improve9 ment with respect to collaboration among 

10 the participating agencies; and 

11 (iii) an estimate of the funding and 

12 staff needed for the continued work of the 

13 JTF–ISN; 

14 (B) a statement of the budget priorities of 

15 the JTF–ISN for each year in that period; 

16 (C) a description of the efforts of the 

17 JTF–ISN to investigate and prosecute illicit 

18 synthetic narcotics trafficking crimes, including 

19 raids conducted, assets seized, assets forfeited 

20 and indictments brought and convictions; and 

21 (D) efforts of the JTF–ISN to address 

22 matters related to the role of the People’s Re23 public of China in the opioids crisis. 


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1 SEC. 4. PRIMARY MISSIONS OF JTF–ISN. 

2 The primary mission of the JTF–ISN shall be to di3 rect counter opioid and synthetic narcotics activities, in4 cluding disruption activities and associated investigations, 

5 and provide strategic coordination on related activities, in6 cluding but not limited to sanctions enforcement, con7 ducting joint operations, raids, and other tactical actions 

8 in coordination with Federal, State, territorial, Tribal, and 

9 local law enforcement agencies through memorandums of 

10 understanding. This support includes legal actions against 

11 traffickers and foreign entities, particularly in the People’s 

12 Republic of China, complicit in the opioid trade. 

13 SEC. 5. AUTHORITY AND LIMITATIONS. 

14 (a) AUTHORITY.—The JTF–ISN shall be vested with 

15 power and authority to— 

16 (1) investigate and prosecute violations of Fed17 eral law relating to the trafficking of illicit synthetic 

18 narcotics; related offenses, such as money laundering 

19 and other financial crimes, smuggling, and false 

20 statements; as well as any matters that arise or 

21 might arise directly from its investigations; 

22 (2) in the case of a prosecution relating to non23 U.S. persons outside of the United States, the JTF– 

24 ISN shall bring the case either in the district where 

25 the crime was committed or in the district where the 

26 Drug Enforcement Administration is located; 


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1 (3) facilitate the sharing of information between 

2 JTF–ISN Members in a timely manner; 

3 (4) establish protocols for interagency referrals 

4 and procedures for referring cases to prosecuting 

5 and sanctions designating authorities as appropriate; 

6 (5) develop strategies to address the role of the 

7 People’s Republic of China in the illicit synthetic 

8 narcotics crisis; 

9 (6) work cooperatively with State, territorial, 

10 Tribal, and local law enforcement agencies to combat 

11 and prosecute trafficking of illicit synthetic nar12 cotics; 

13 (7) assess and improve existing methods of in14 vestigating and prosecuting illicit synthetic narcotics 

15 trafficking crimes; and 

16 (8) conduct direct operational activities, includ17 ing joint operations, raids, and other tactical ac18 tions, to disrupt illicit synthetic narcotics trafficking 

19 networks and bring offenders to justice. 

20 (b) LIMITATION.—The Director of the JTF–ISN may 

21 not direct the execution of operational activities outside 

22 the scope of counter-opioid efforts related to illicit syn23 thetic narcotics suppliers and their networks pursuant to 

24 the primary missions of the JTF–ISN. 


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1 SEC. 6. RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES. 

2 The Attorney General shall resolve disagreements be3 tween the JTF–ISN and the head of a department, agen4 cy, or element of the United States Government on des5 ignations, assignments, plans, or responsibilities under 

6 this section. The head of such a department, agency, or 

7 element may appeal the resolution of the disagreement by 

8 the Attorney General to the President. 

9 SEC. 7. INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF JTF–ISN. 

10 (a) INTELLIGENCE COORDINATION.—The Director of 

11 the JTF–ISN shall establish and maintain within the 

12 JTF–ISN an intelligence coordination element which shall 

13 have primary responsibility within the United States Gov14 ernment for analysis of illicit synthetic narcotics and re15 lated trafficking organizations from all sources of intel16 ligence, whether collected inside or outside the United 

17 States. 

18 (b) STRATEGIC OPERATIONAL PLANNING.—The Di19 rector of the JTF–ISN shall establish and maintain within 

20 the JTF–ISN a strategic operational planning element 

21 which shall provide strategic operational plans for counter22 opioid operations conducted by the United States Govern23 ment. 

24 (1) Strategic operational planning shall include 

25 the mission, objectives to be achieved, tasks to be 

26 performed, interagency coordination of operational 


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1 activities, and the assignment of roles and respon2 sibilities. 

3 (2) The Director of the JTF–ISN shall monitor 

4 the implementation of strategic operational plans 

5 and shall obtain information from each element of 

6 the intelligence community, and from each other de7 partment, agency, or element of the United States 

8 Government relevant for monitoring the progress of 

9 such entity in implementing such plans. 

10 (c) OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL.—The Director 

11 of the JTF–CO shall establish and maintain within the 

12 JTF–ISN an Office of General Counsel which shall pro13 vide legal advice in support of the JTF–ISN and its direc14 torates. 

15 (d) OFFICE OF CONGRESSIONAL COORDINATION.— 

16 The Director of the JTF–ISN shall establish and main17 tain within the JTF–ISN an Office of Congressional Co18 ordination which shall coordinate communications of the 

19 JFT–ISN with Congress and ensure compliance with re20 porting and briefing obligations under this Act. 

21 SEC. 8. RETENTION OF EXISTING AUTHORITIES. 

22 Each of the individual JTF–ISN Members maintain 

23 their existing authorities to investigate and prosecute traf24 ficking crimes relating to illicit synthetic narcotics. 


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1 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act, the term ‘‘illicit synthetic narcotics’’ 

3 means— 

4 (1) ‘‘controlled substances,’’ as defined in sec5 tion 802(6) of title 21, United States Code, with the 

6 exception of— 

7 (A) substances of natural origins; or 

8 (B) medications that are lawful under the 

9 laws of the United States and the Drug En10 forcement Administration has provided an im11 port permit to the importing organization for 

12 the import of said medication; 

13 (2) ‘‘listed chemicals,’’ as defined in section 802 

14 of title 21, United States Code; and 

15 (3) active pharmaceutical ingredients or chemi16 cals that are used in the production of controlled 

17 substances described in paragraphs (1) and (2). 

18 SEC. 10. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

19 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize 

20 the Joint Task Force to Counter Illicit Synthetic Nar21 cotics to investigate, target, or prosecute individuals for 

22 personal drug use or to pursue enforcement actions 

23 against low-level drug dealing that does not involve signifi24 cant connections to larger trafficking networks. The activi25 ties of the Joint Task Force shall focus exclusively on ad26 dressing the international trafficking of illicit synthetic 


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1 narcotics and their associated networks, particularly those 

2 involving significant threats to public health, national se3 curity, and the economy. 

Æ 


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