US Senate Leader Schumer Wants to Sanction China Over Fentanyl, Cyber Warfare Authorization

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will push to include in upcoming defense policy legislation, the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a bipartisan amendment to sanction China over its alleged role in producing the synthetic opioid fentanyl. It would also declare fentanyl trafficking a national emergency, which allows for increased federal resources, funding and.

Schumer blamed China for much of the fentanyl that US authorities say is responsible for the overdose deaths of tens of thousands of Americans. He said the drug comes from production sites in China "with the total acceptance and acquiescence of the Chinese government."

"I will push an amendment - bipartisan - into the defense bill that will include major fentanyl stopping and sanction empowering legislation, and we will bring that bill to the floor this week," Schumer told a news conference in New York.

"I hope it will pass. I believe that will pass with strong bipartisan support. And it should. It must. We have learned the sad fact of the matter is that we know where this starts and predominantly comes from, and that is China, and the Chinese government does nothing about it," Schumer said.

The amendment that would include sanctions has bipartisan support in the Senate. A reconciled version of the NDAA must be passed by the Senate and House and signed by the president before becoming law. The Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., was not immediately available for comment.

Narco Cyber Warfare

A provision in the SASC version of the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act authorizes the Secretary of Defense with developing a strategy to use cyber warfare tactics to disrupt illicit activity occurring across the border. It would allow the Pentagon, along with other federal agencies and in consultation with the Mexican government, to “conduct detection, monitoring, and other operations in cyberspace to counter Mexican transnational criminal organizations that are engaged in a variety of activities that cross the southern US border."

Such activities include smuggling of illegal drugs and controlled substances, human trafficking, and weapons trafficking, according to the bill. The legislation was approved by the committee at the end of June, but the bill’s full text wasn’t released until this past week.

The committee places this activity under existing authority that places the Department of Defense as the single lead US agency for the detection and monitoring of aerial and maritime transit of illegal drugs into the country, along with broader authorities to conduct military cyber operations.

The provision states that the authority “may be used to counter Mexican transnational criminal organizations, including entities cited in the most recent National Drug Threat Assessment published by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.”

As part of the provision, Senators also want a strategy within 60 days of the law’s enactment for conducting operations in cyberspace to combat this activity. As well as quarterly briefings to update lawmakers on the various operations and the nations they were conducted in.

The strategy should include, among other things, a description of the cyber presence and activities of the organizations, a description of any previous cyber actions taken by the DOD against such groups, and descriptions of security cooperation agreements and work with the Mexican government.

Clarifying Existing Authority

According to Herb Lin, a senior research scholar for Cyber Policy and Security at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, the bill’s provision is just clarifying the existing authority that the Pentagon already has to conduct such operations.

“As far as I can tell, it clarifies existing authority. It explicitly gives DOD authority to do something that I think that they could’ve done without it [authorization],” he told DefenseScoop. “It’s not a directive that they should do things, it gives them explicit legislative authority to do that. The language says [the secretary of defense] MAY conduct detection, monitoring, and other operations in cyberspace to counter Mexican transnational criminal organizations, but it does not say MUST.”

Other cyber experts say it helps further codify US Cyber Command’s roles within the government. “I don’t see it as a tacit approval for the use of force — maybe they feel like they could grow into that. It seems like they’re just formalizing Cybercom’s role in the monitoring, looking at the communications and maybe disrupting the communications of these groups,” Gary Brown, a professor at National Defense University and formerly the first senior legal counsel for Cybercom, told DefenseScoop.

Since Cybercom’s inception, it has straddled a line between military operations and intelligence efforts given it was co-located with the National Security Agency, which is responsible for conducting foreign intelligence.

Erica Lonergan, an assistant professor and a former senior director on the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, noted that the National Defense Strategy priorities the US military deterring major conflict and aggression from nation-states in a return to so-called 'great power competition,' identifying China as the “pacing threat.”

While cyberspace will play a key role in the future, with limited resources, DOD should be prioritizing, and Mexican drug cartels are relatively low on that priority list, she said. “The reality is that Mexican drug cartels are likely to present an easier target, and demonstrable successes in this area will make it tempting to shift even greater resources toward counter-drug trafficking and away from strategic threats, especially because peer- and near-peer nation-state competitors are harder (and therefore more frustrating) targets than most non-state actors,” she added.

It is also possible, in part, that the provision and its requirements for reporting on its operations to the committee is an effort for increased transparency in providing information to the politicians. Several Republican US Senators have requested information and explanations for certain decisions from various agencies, namely the DEA, in their efforts against drug cartels trafficking in fentanyl. 

Sources Reuters, CBS News, Defense Scoop