[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6265 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6265

 To require a strategy by the United States Government to disrupt and 
dismantle the Captagon trade and narcotics networks of Bashar al-Assad 
                               in Syria.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 14, 2021

    Mr. Hill (for himself and Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
  Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Intelligence 
(Permanent Select), Armed Services, and the Judiciary, 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 require a strategy by the United States Government to disrupt and 
dismantle the Captagon trade and narcotics networks of Bashar al-Assad 
                               in Syria.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Countering Assad's Proliferation 
Trafficking And Garnering Of Narcotics Act'' or the ``CAPTAGON Act''.

SEC. 2. INTERAGENCY STRATEGY TO DISRUPT AND DISMANTLE NARCOTICS 
              PRODUCTION AND TRAFFICKING AND AFFILIATED NETWORKS LINKED 
              TO THE REGIME OF BASHAR AL-ASSAD IN SYRIA.

    (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the Captagon trade linked to the regime of Bashar al-
        Assad in Syria is a transnational security threat; and
            (2) the United States should develop and implement an 
        interagency strategy to deny, degrade, and dismantle Assad-
        linked narcotics production and trafficking networks.
    (b) Report and Strategy Required.--Not later than 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, the 
Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Administrator of 
the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Director of National 
Intelligence, and the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies shall 
provide to the appropriate congressional committees a written strategy 
to disrupt and dismantle narcotics production and trafficking and 
affiliated networks linked to the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. 
Such strategy shall include each of the following:
            (1) A strategy to target, disrupt, and degrade networks 
        that directly or indirectly support the narcotics 
        infrastructure of the Assad regime, particularly through 
        diplomatic and intelligence support to law enforcement 
        investigations and to build counter-narcotics capacity to 
        partner countries through assistance and training to law 
        enforcement services in countries, other than Syria, that are 
        receiving or transiting large quantities of Captagon.
            (2) Information relating to the use of statutory 
        authorities, including the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act 
        of 2019 (22 U.S.C. 8791 note), the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin 
        Designation Act (popularly referred to as the ``Kingpin Act''), 
        section 489 of the Foreign Assistance Act (relating to the 
        international narcotics control strategy report), and 
        associated actions to target individuals and entities directly 
        or indirectly associated with the narcotics infrastructure of 
        the Assad regime.
            (3) Information relating to the use of global diplomatic 
        engagements associated with the economic pressure campaign 
        against the Assad regime to target its narcotics 
        infrastructure.
            (4) A strategy for leveraging multilateral institutions and 
        cooperation with international partners to disrupt the 
        narcotics infrastructure of the Assad regime.
            (5) A strategy for mobilizing a public communications 
        campaign to increase awareness of the extent of the connection 
        of the Assad regime to illicit narcotics trade.
            (6) A description of the countries receiving or transiting 
        large shipments of Captagon, and an assessment of the counter-
        narcotics capacity of such countries to interdict or disrupt 
        the smuggling of Captagon, including an assessment of current 
        United States assistance and training programs to build such 
        capacity in such countries.
    (c) Form of Report.--The report required under subsection (b) shall 
be submitted in an unclassified form, but may contain a classified 
annex.
    (d) Appropriate Congressional Committees.--In this section, the 
term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on the 
        Judiciary, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on 
        Financial Services, the Committee on Appropriations, and the 
        Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of 
        Representatives; and
            (2) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on the 
        Judiciary, the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on 
        Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the Committee on 
        Appropriations, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the 
        Senate.
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