II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2152 

To require a study and report on Coast Guard interdiction of illicit drugs 

in the transit zones, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 17, 2019 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself and Mr. SCOTT of Florida) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To require a study and report on Coast Guard interdiction 

of illicit drugs in the transit zones, and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. STUDY AND REPORT ON COAST GUARD INTER4 DICTION OF ILLICIT DRUGS IN THE TRANSIT 

5 ZONES. 

6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find7 ings: 

8 (1) The Coast Guard seizes an average of 1,221 

9 pounds of cocaine and 85 pounds of marijuana each 

10 day in the transit zones of the Eastern Pacific 


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1 Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Southern maritime bor2 der approaches. 

3 (2) The Joint Interagency Task Force–South 

4 (JIATF–South) estimates that it has a spectrum of 

5 actionable intelligence on more than 80 percent of 

6 drug movements into the United States from Central 

7 America and South America. 

8 (3) The Coast Guard must balance asset alloca9 tion across 11 statutory missions. As such, the 

10 Coast Guard interdicts less than 10 percent of mari11 time non-commercial smuggling of illicit drugs into 

12 the United States from Central America and South 

13 America. 

14 (4) In 2017, the Government Accountability Of15 fice recommended that the Commandant of the 

16 Coast Guard— 

17 (A) develop new performance goals relating 

18 to the interdiction of illicit drugs smuggled into 

19 the United States, or describe the manner in 

20 which existing goals are sufficient; 

21 (B) report such goals to the public; 

22 (C) assess the extent to which limitations 

23 in performance data with respect to such goals 

24 are documented; 


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1 (D) document measurable corrective ac2 tions and implementation time frames with re3 spect to such goals; and 

4 (E) document efforts to monitor implemen5 tation of such corrective actions. 

6 (b) STUDY.—The Secretary of Homeland Security, in 

7 coordination with the Secretary of Defense and the heads 

8 of other relevant Federal agencies, shall conduct a study 

9 in order to identify gaps in resources that contribute to 

10 low interdiction rates for maritime non-commercial smug11 gling of illicit drugs into the United States from Central 

12 America and South America despite having actionable in13 telligence on more than 80 percent of drug movements in 

14 the transit zones of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Caribbean 

15 Sea, and Southern maritime border approaches. 

16 (c) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 

17 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 

18 Security shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, 

19 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Com20 mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House 

21 of Representatives a report on the results of the study 

22 under subsection (b). 

Æ 


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