DETECT Fentanyl and Xylazine Act of 2024

To require the Science and Technology Directorate in the Department of Homeland Security to develop greater capacity to detect, identify, and disrupt illicit substances in very low concentrations. 1. Short titles This Act may be cited as the Detection Equipment and Technology Evaluation to Counter the Threat of Fentanyl and Xylazine Act of 2024 DETECT Fentanyl and Xylazine Act of 2024 2. Enhancing the capacity to detect, identify, and disrupt drugs such as fentanyl and xylazine Section 302 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 ( 6 U.S.C. 182 (1) in paragraph (13), by striking and (2) in paragraph (14), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and (3) by adding at the end the following: (15) carrying out research, development, testing, evaluation, and cost-benefit analyses to improve the safety, effectiveness, and efficiency of equipment and reference libraries for use by Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies for the accurate detection of drugs or the disruption of drug trafficking for drugs such as fentanyl and xylazine, including, but not limited to— (A) portable equipment that can detect and identify drugs with minimal or no handling of the sample; (B) equipment that can separate complex mixtures containing low concentrations of drugs and high concentrations of cutting agents into their component parts to enable signature extraction for field identification and detection; and (C) technologies that use machine learning or artificial intelligence (as defined in section 5002 of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 ( 15 U.S.C. 9401 . 3. Requirements In carrying out section 302(15) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as added by section 2, the Under Secretary for Science and Technology shall— (1) follow the recommendations, guidelines, and best practices described in the Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework (NIST AI 100–1) or any successor document published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology; and (2) establish the Directorate of Science and Technology’s research, development, testing, evaluation, and cost-benefit analysis priorities under such section 302(15) based on the latest available information, including the latest State and Territory Report on Enduring and Emerging Threats published by the Drug Enforcement Administration or any successor document. August 23, 2024 Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

Summary: Detection Equipment and Technology Evaluation to Counter the Threat of Fentanyl and Xylazine Act of 2024 or the DETECT Fentanyl and Xylazine Act of 2024This bill provides statutory authority for the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate to take certain actions to support the detection of drugs such as fentanyl and xylazine.Specifically, the bill provides statutory authority for the directorate's research and development efforts to improve drug detection equipment and reference libraries for law enforcement agencies, including with respect to portable equipment, equipment that can analyze complex samples, and technology that uses artificial intelligence or other techniques to detect new substances. The bill additionally requires the directorate to follow certain standards and rely on certain information from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Drug Enforcement Administration, respectively, regarding these efforts.