Background Press Call by a Senior Administration Official on the Administration’s Ongoing Counternarcotics Efforts

Via Teleconference

12:09 P.M. EDT
 
MODERATOR:  Good afternoon, everyone.  Thank you so much for joining us today for this call on background to discuss the ongoing efforts and new developments from this administration to counter narcotics, particularly fentanyl.
 
On the call, not for reporting purposes, we have [senior administration official]. 
 
This call will be on background, attributable to a senior administration official, and it will be embargoed until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, July 31st. 
 
And we will pass the word to [senior administration official].
 
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Good afternoon, everyone.  Thanks so much for joining this call today.  I wanted to — we wanted to bring everybody together to discuss two important announcements that we are making tomorrow. 
 
Tomorrow, the President is signing a national security memorandum that will take our fight against illicit fentanyl to
to the next level.  And he is also calling on Congress to pass a legislative proposal that incorporates several ideas that have been put forward by members of Congress but that will help us close key loopholes and engage further in this fight against deadly fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. 
 
As I think everybody on this call knows, President Biden and the Vice President, Kamala Harris, have been prioritizing ongoing efforts to counter the production and trafficking of illicit drugs and tackle the fentanyl crisis since day one of the administration.  And so, I’m going to start by just refreshing everybody’s recollection with some of the things that we have already done, and then I will turn to the announcements for tomorrow.
 
So, just a few things.  In just the last five months, border officials have seized over 442 million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl at the U.S. borders.  Over the past five years, we’ve seized more fentanyl than in the previous — over the past two years, we’ve seized more fentanyl than in the previous five years combined.
 
Early in his presidency, President Biden issued an executive order targeting foreign persons engaged in the global illicit drug trade and has since sanctioned over 300 persons and entities under this authority, cutting them off from the U.S. financial system. 
 
The Department of Justice has, since 2021, arrested and prosecuted dozens of high-level Mexican cartel leaders, drug traffickers, and money launderers, including the arrests last week of one of the Sinaloa cartel’s co-founder, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García.  And they have placed many, many dangerous drug traffickers behind bars.
 
In 2023 — in November ‘23, President Biden negotiated the resumption of counternarcotics cooperation with the People’s Republic of China.  This has spurred increased cooperation on law enforcement actions and ongoing efforts to shut down companies that fuel illicit fentanyl and synthetic drug trafficking and cause American deaths.
 
President Biden has made diplomacy in this space a top priority.  He’s engaged with leaders around the world to spur global action in the fight against synthetic opioids, including by establishing a Trilateral Fentanyl Committee with the governments of Mexico and Canada; launching a Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats, uniting more than 150 countries in this effort; and ongoing work with G7 partners and others.
 
And while today’s call is mostly on the fight against the supply chain of illicit fentanyl and precursor chemicals, it’s also important to acknowledge the important work that the Biden-Harris administration has done to address — to focus on treatment and saving lives through things like making naloxone the lifesaving opioid overdose reversal medication widely available over the counter. 
 
The Biden-Harris administration has invested over $82 billion in treatment, which is 40 percent more than the previous administration. 
 
And these investments are saving lives.  For the first time in five years, the number of deaths from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids has started to decline.  But we all know that one death is too many deaths.  And there is more to be done. 
 
And so, building on all of this ongoing work that has been done and that continues to be done, tomorrow the Biden-Harris administration is making two key announcements. 
 
First, it will be issuing a new national security memorandum that calls on federal departments and agencies to do even more than they have already been doing to stop the supply of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids into our country.  It will lead to increased intelligence collection, increased coordination and cooperation, and increased disruption efforts.  And also importantly, will help spearhead some key work with the private sector, recognizing the important private-public partnerships that are so important for tackling this fight effectively.
 
And separately, the President is going to be pushing a series of legislative proposals that we are calling the “Detect and Defeat” set of proposals that incorporates a lot of the good work that Congress has already done.  And we are going to work with Congress and continue to encourage that Congress passes key legislation to close some of the key loopholes that drug traffickers exploit. 
 
So just a few of the initiatives that are included in this proposal are:
 
First, it establishes a nationwide pill press and tableting registry so that law enforcement can keep track of machines and protect against their illicit use in producing fake fentanyl pills.  This would help level up the way we regulate machinery akin to how we regulate and deal with precursor chemicals. 
 
Secondly, it would impose new important penalties on drug smugglers and traffickers. 
 
Three, it would lead to the permanent scheduling of fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs.
 
And four, it would require importers of small packages to provide additional information to Customs and Border Protection officials so that we can keep track of these packages and better detect and identify packages that are carrying illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals and related machinery.
 
We also, of course, continue to call on Congress to pass the Bipartisan Border Security Agreement, which provides funding for more border agents and more drug detection machines to effectively address the fentanyl that — and identify fentanyl before it comes into our communities. 
 
So with that, I will stop and open it up for questions.
 
MODERATOR:  All right, if you have a question, please raise your hand.
 
Apologies.  We had some technical difficulties.
 
Travis, you should be able to unmute yourself.
 
Q    Hey, thanks for doing this.  Could you give an update on the PRC conversations that you’re having, and any details around how well or poorly the collaboration on this issue has gone with them in particular?
 
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Thanks.  Appreciate the conversation.  So, the conversations with the PRC continue.  In fact, there is a delegation of senior officials that is coming to meet tomorrow to continue discussions.  There continues to be
coordination on specific law enforcement matters.  There continues to be discussion with the PRC about the importance of scheduling, and we’ve seen some important scheduling announcements out of the PRC.  And there continues to be ongoing discussions with the PRC about how to more effectively tackle illicit financing.
 
I want to be clear: Of course, there is a lot more that needs to be done.  We are making steps, and there is progress in our discussion, but we are well aware of the fact that there is
a lot more that the PRC needs to do and that we continue to urge in every possible channel that the PRC does to effectively shut down the companies that are supplying the precursor chemicals that are then used to make illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids that are killing Americans and so many others.  And fully recognize the need for additional actions to address illicit financing of these drugs and drug traffickers as well. 
 
So, we continue to make progress.  We continue to engage.  I think we’ve seen some important steps that would not have been possible had President Biden not taken steps to relaunch our counternarcotics cooperation. 
 
But we continue to engage with a recognition of the fact that there is a lot more that needs to be done.
 
MODERATOR:  Thank you very much.  We’ll go next to Carmen Paun.  You should be able to unmute yourself.  Please state your outlet.
 
Q    Hi, thank you.  This is Carmen Paun from Politico. 
 
Just on the memorandum, what exactly is this sort of, like, bringing new?  Like, what new tools is it offering to agencies that they don’t have yet?  Sort of, like, what’s the added value of it?
 
And just on China, if I may.  The Select Subcommittee on China in Congress had a report a few months ago, basically saying that, you know, the Chinese authorities were subsidizing some fentanyl exports.  And I was wondering if that has come up in your conversation with your Chinese counterparts.  Thank you.
 
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yeah, so I’ll take the second part of your question first.
 
We’re aware of that report.  We do not have any information to support that finding that the PRC is actually subsidizing these exports.  So I think there’s a need for an ongoing conversation about that. 
 
In terms of what the NSM is doing, it is a — as all NSMs, it is a direction to departments and agencies, and it’s a direction to departments and agencies to do even more than they are already doing to redouble their efforts to disrupt the supply chain of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, among other things.  It directs the prioritization of intelligence collection on this challenge, with the understanding that there has been an extensive amount of collection.  But as the drug traffickers adapt and as the supply chain evolves, there’s a need to do even more to make sure that we have the best and most up-to-date common operating picture for all agencies and departments to work off of in strategically disrupting the supply chain and the traffickers. 
 
And it requires departments and agencies to do even more to work together to share information across intelligence and law enforcement and within different law enforcement channels, and to break down any existing information silos so that we can more effectively go after drug traffickers and the supply chain.
 
MODERATOR:  Thank you very much.  We’ll go next to Jose Diaz Briseño.  You should be able to unmute yourself.  Please state your outlet.
 
Q    Yes, my name is Jose Diaz with Reforma Newspaper from Mexico. 
 
You mentioned the arrest last week of the Sinaloa cartel founder, “El Mayo” Zambada.  And I wanted to ask what specific information you have of whether these arrests could lead to less fentanyl flowing through the border.  Thank you.
 
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Thanks.  So, obviously, we can’t predict exactly what will happen, but we do know that as we take drug cartel leaders off the streets and we take some of the high-value players into our custody and put them behind bars, it disrupts the organizations and it makes them — it makes it harder for them to continue to operate. 
 
And so, you know, again, we will have to wait and see what exactly the implications are in terms of the amount of fentanyl that drug traffickers and others seek to take across our borders.  But as I said, we continue to engage in efforts to take the cartel leaders and their key intermediaries off the streets.
 
And I’d just add that Mexico has been a really important partner in this work.  Mexico, as I know you know — in May, Mexico extradited to the United States “El Nini,” one of the most — a key notorious drug lord, who was also involved in murder and kidnapping and other heinous activity as well.  And so, we are deeply appreciative of the partnership with Mexico as we continue to engage in this.
 
MODERATOR:  Thank you very much.  We’ll go to Michelle Jamrisko.  You should be able to unmute yourself.  Please state your outlet.
Q    Hi, yes.  Michelle Jamrisko from Bloomberg.  Thanks again for doing this.
 
I had a follow-up on the China line, if I could.  Just a little bit more on — you mentioned increased cooperation.  I’m wondering how you measure that at this point.  I know you also cited some crackdown by the Chinese on the companies that produce, you know, the substances that contribute to the fentanyl flows.  But do you have reliable and verified information that those have been cracked down on and that they haven’t popped up elsewhere in China?
 
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  So, a few things.  I mean, we have, as you noted, as part of our — you know, we have — I just want to kind of highlight some of the things that have happened as a result of our cooperation. 
 
So, the PRC in June arrested an individual who was charged by the Department of Justice in an indictment that was announced in June and was involved in a money-laundering scheme on behalf of the deadly Sinaloa cartel.  We know that these kinds of arrests reverberate through the PRC system and they send an important message.
 
There is ongoing efforts to engage on other law enforcement matters as well.  As you noted, the PRC issued a law enforcement notice to its chemical industry, warning PRC companies against the illicit trade and precursor chemicals and pill press equipment.  We know that the PRC took some action against companies of concern.  We continue to monitor and to assess whether or not these companies are reconstituting in other form, and it is part of the ongoing discussion that we have with the PRC. 
 
I want to be really clear: These are important steps.  The other thing that I will note is the PRC scheduling of 46 new substances and a commitment to move forward on the scheduling of others.
 
These are steps.  We recognize that there is a lot more to do.  And, you know, our goal with the PRC is to continue to engage but to continue to also take steps to independently verify as well and continue to push and encourage additional actions.
 
MODERATOR:  Thank you very much.  We have time for two more questions.  We’ll go next to Zolan.  Please unmute yourself and state your outlet.
 
Q    Hi there.  Thanks so much for taking the time.  Zolan Kanno-Youngs from the New York Times.  You mentioned that the legislation that you’re proposing would impose new penalties on drug smugglers and traffickers.  Can you be a bit more specific on what those penalties would be?  Are you talking about kind of increased mandatory sentences?  And also, who are we talking about by drug smugglers and drug traffickers?  Thanks a lot.
 
Sorry, did I lose you?  Hello?
 
MODERATOR:  Sorry, could you repeat your question?  We lost you for a minute there. 
 
Q    Sure.  I was saying that you mentioned that the legislation you’re proposing would impose new penalties on drug smugglers and traffickers.  I’m asking if you could be more specific on what those penalties are.  Are they mandatory sentences?  Are they longer sentences?  And who are we talking about when we say drug smugglers and drug traffickers?  What specific sort of laws are we talking about there?  Thanks.
 
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Thanks.  Appreciate the question.  I mean, I’m happy to discuss this more with you as well separately, but there are a range of different proposals in the package. 
 
So, one is an amendment to the Kingpin Act.  Another, as we talked — as I said before: By permanently scheduling fentanyl-related substances as a Schedule I drug, that imposes additional penalties — or associated with being a Schedule I drug — on those who distribute and/or possess these drugs.  There’s also a proposal to make xylazine a Schedule III drug, which similarly imposes penalties on those who unlawfully distribute xylazine.  To be clear, that provision has exceptions to account for its legitimate veterinarian use as well.
 
MODERATOR:  Thank you very much.  And we’ll take our last question.  We’ll go to Abigail.  Please state your outlet.
 
Q    Thanks.  Abigail Hauslohner, Washington Post.
 
I was hoping you could just talk a bit more about — in your conversations with the PRC, are you finding at this point that you have a willing and good-faith partner on fentanyl specifically in taking these kinds of actions?  What is the PRC asking from the U.S. in return for taking the kind of steps that the U.S. wants to see?
 
And as far as obstacles, you said, you know, obviously they need to do more.  Are the bigger obstacles their own interdiction capabilities, or is it a willingness to take the actions that the U.S. wants to see?  Thanks.
 
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yeah.  So, thanks for that question. 
 
Obviously, it is a complex and complicated relationship, but I will say that we are encouraged by the continued commitment and conversations. 
 
As I said, there is going to be a delegation from the PRC, who is here tomorrow, to continue to work through some of these issues on a range of different fronts, including law enforcement cooperation; including efforts to tackle illicit fentanyl; including some of our ongoing asks with respect to scheduling in particular, encouraging and really pushing and urging the PRC to schedule all of the substances that have been scheduled by international bodies; and including ongoing discussions about how we further some of the information exchanges that we have initiated, which, again, don’t solve the problem, but they are incredibly — they’re an incredibly important first step both for our enforcement officials to be able to get better information about some of the companies that are shipping drugs to the United States and also for us to be able to share information among the things that we have initiated as a regular scientist-to-scientist exchange as well.  And that scientist-to-scientist exchange, among other things, looks at emerging trends in ways that are helpful.  We had another exchange of that group at the end of June. 
 
Again, as I’ve said, the United States, we are always looking to verify any assertions about actions that have been taken by the PRC.  They have claimed to shut down 14 key websites and suspended over 330 business accounts and over 1,000 online shops that are engaged in the sale and distribution of illicit drugs and precursor chemicals of concern. 
 
But as there continues to be a significant supply of precursor chemicals out of the PRC, there’s obviously a whole lot more to do.  And that’s why these ongoing conversations and engagements are so important, even if we’re taking small steps one at a time.
 
MODERATOR:  Thank you very much to everyone for joining.  That’s all the time we have today.  If you have any additional questions, please do feel free to reach out. 
 
Again, this call was on background, attributable to a senior administration official.  And the embargo will lift tomorrow, Wednesday, July 31st, at 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time.  And I will be able to send some documents later this evening on these two announcements tomorrow. 
 
Thank you, and have a good day.
 
    12:36 P.M. EDT