[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 157 (Wednesday, September 28, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S5257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 5782. Mr. MARSHALL (for himself, Mr. Risch, and Mr. Rounds) 
submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 5499 
submitted by Mr. Reed (for himself and Mr. Inhofe) and intended to be 
proposed to the bill H.R. 7900, to authorize appropriations for fiscal 
year 2023 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for 
military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of 
Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, 
and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as 
follows:

        At the appropriate place in title X, insert the following:

     SEC. 10__. 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) Defined Term.--In this section, the term ``appropriate 
     congressional committees'' means--
       (1) the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate;
       (2) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate
       (3) the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate;
       (4) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate;
       (5) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of 
     the Senate;
       (6) the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate;
       (7) the Committee on Armed Services of the House of 
     Representatives;
       (8) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
     Representatives;
       (9) the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
     Representatives;
       (10) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
     Representatives;
       (11) the Committee on Financial Services of the House of 
     Representatives; and
       (12) the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the 
     House of Representatives.
       (c) Strategy Required.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in 
     consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of 
     the Treasury, the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement 
     Administration, the Director of National Intelligence, the 
     Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and 
     the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies, shall 
     provide a written strategy (with a classified annex, if 
     necessary), to the appropriate congressional committees for 
     disrupting and dismantling narcotics production and 
     trafficking and affiliated networks linked to the regime of 
     Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
       (2) Contents.--The strategy required under paragraph (1) 
     shall include--
       (A) a detailed plan for--
       (i) targeting, disrupting and degrading networks that 
     directly and indirectly support the narcotics infrastructure 
     of the Assad regime, particularly through diplomatic and 
     intelligence support to law enforcement investigations; and
       (ii) building 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;
       (B)(i) the identification of the countries that are 
     receiving or transiting large shipments of Captagon;
       (ii) an assessment of the counter-narcotics capacity of 
     such countries to interdict or disrupt the smuggling of 
     Captagon; and
       (iii) an assessment of current United States assistance and 
     training programs to build such capacity in such countries;
       (C) the use of sanctions, including sanctions authorized 
     under section the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 
     2019 (22 U.S.C. 8791 note; title LXXIV of division F of 
     Public Law 116-92), and associated actions to target 
     individuals and entities directly or indirectly associated 
     with the narcotics infrastructure of the Assad regime;
       (D) the use of global diplomatic engagements associated 
     with the economic pressure campaign against the Assad regime 
     to target its narcotics infrastructure;
       (E) leveraging multilateral institutions and cooperation 
     with international partners to disrupt the narcotics 
     infrastructure of the Assad regime; and
       (F) mobilizing a public communications campaign to increase 
     awareness of the extent of the connection of the Assad regime 
     to the illicit narcotics trade.
                                 ______