Ten-Year Counterdrug Technology Plan and Development
Roadmap
Introduction
This document provides a comprehensive ten-year counterdrug technology plan that
supports the five goals and technology objectives of the National Drug Control Strategy.
The interagency working group for technology (IAWG-T), drawn from the Science and
Technology Committee, was formed to prepare this plan and consisted of senior
technologists from the lead research and development (R&D) organizations within the
federal drug control agencies. The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center (CTAC) coordinated the efforts of the IAWG-T in
the development of the plan
This document represents the collective efforts of the IAWG-T and will be used as an
overarching plan by all federal counterdrug agencies that rely upon advanced technology to
ensure the success of the national drug control program. The ten-year counterdrug
technology plan is also intended to focus the efforts of Government, academic and private
sector developmental organizations onto counterdrug applications.
Background
Advancements in technology and medical science offer an abundance of potential cost
effective improvements to our capabilities to overcome drug abuse and the crime and
violence it spawns. Over the past six years, improvements in imaging technology have been
applied to produce, for the first time, highly resolved images deep within the living
human brain through positron emission tomography. Research scientists are now uncovering
and understanding the basic underlying causes of substance abuse and rapidly developing
medications to treat drug addiction and abuse at its source within the pleasure center of
the brain. On the other hand, low and mid energy x-ray systems now are being used to image
(or inspect) the trucks and other vehicles entering our ports-of-entry for hidden drugs
and other contraband. The President's FY 99 budget request provides for continued progress
in using technology for drug control. Within the next five years, new and improved
technologies, such as high energy x-ray and neutron-based systems, will become available
to inspect cargo, containers and conveyances for illegal drugs and other contraband at
increased levels. Similar achievements are being experienced in the areas of
communications, surveillance, information management and demand reduction. The challenge
remains, however, that as technology provides increased capabilities, the drug traffickers
and criminals often acquire these improvements or develop countermeasures years before law
enforcement.
The National Drug Control Strategy provides five goals:
- Goal 1: Educate and enable America's youth to reject illegal drugs as well as alcohol
and tobacco.
- Goal 2: Increase the safety of America's citizens by substantially reducing drug-related
crime and violence.
- Goal 3: Reduce health and social costs to the public of illegal drugs.
- Goal 4: Shield America's air, land and sea frontiers from the drug threat.
- Goal 5: Break foreign and domestic drug sources of supply.
This plan has been prepared to support these goals and to identify opportunities for
technology to narrow the gap between law enforcement and drug criminals (Goals 2, 4, and
5); and between drug prevention and treatment and drug addiction and abuse (Goals 1 and
3). This plan is not a budget document. Certain assumptions, including expectations about
future resource levels, have been made to forecast future improvements and to formulate
plans, development roadmaps and schedules. As circumstances change, the plan and its
schedules will need to be adjusted to reflect new priorities. This overarching plan
provides the framework for individual agencies to develop five-year plans consistent with
the President's FY 99 budget request, including outyear estimates.
Overview of the Ten-Year Plan
The ten-year technology development plan has been prepared to satisfy the technology
objectives within the five goals of the National Drug Control Strategy [1]. The recent
Performance Measures of Effectiveness System to assess the performance of the National
Drug Control Strategy provides 12 outcome and end state impact targets, 82 performance
targets, specific measures and outcomes needed to make the Strategy a success. This plan
addresses the technical performance necessary to support the research and technology
targets outlined in the performance measures system. As the plan evolves, it will describe
the optimum set of technologies/systems and infrastructure improvements required for each
impact target in the performance measures of effectiveness system.
This plan concentrates on the counterdrug technology needed by all federal agencies
with drug control missions. The plan:
- Presents a ten-year counterdrug technology plan and development roadmap,
- Designs a long-term planning methodology to guide future efforts to coordinate use of
resources and avoid duplication of efforts,
- Establishes four technology panels for advanced technology development efforts to meet
the national priorities, impact targets, performance measures, and goals set forth in the
National Drug Control Strategy and Performance Measures of Effectiveness System,
- Provides an IAWG-T review process to evaluate whether the plan is meeting the national
priorities, impact targets, performance measures, and goals set forth in the National Drug
Control Strategy and Performance Measures of Effectiveness System,
- Establishes a structure composed of lead development agencies to maximize efficiency of
resources and prevent duplication within the entire community in setting performance
targets for the Strategy objectives and impact targets for the Strategy goals,
- Organizes the entire spectrum of each agency's operational capabilities and technical
requirements by technology panel,
- Contains ten-year development roadmaps for each panel which array the general
development activity of off the shelf equipment, maturing technology, and emerging but
focused research and development, and
- Supports regional technology initiatives.
National Goals, Initiatives and Technology Panels
The five goals of the National Drug Control Strategy are the basis for the ten-year
technology plan and development roadmap. These goals set forth the national priorities for
addressing the nation's drug problems. ONDCP has prepared a document that outlines a
system for assessing the performance of the National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS) that
includes impact targets, performance targets and measures for each goal and objective of
the NDCS. [2] The ten-year technology plan and development roadmap presents a
comprehensive, balanced effort encompassing the general technology needs for drug
prevention, treatment, interdiction, international programs, and domestic law enforcement.
It has been organized into four technology panels (Wide Area Surveillance, Non-Intrusive
Inspection, Tactical Technologies, and Demand Reduction) to support the five national
goals and impact targets as illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Role of Technology in Counterdrug Efforts
Activities within each panel are further supported by (1) test and evaluation support
activities which assess technical and operational utility for the drug control agencies,
and (2) technology transfer projects to assist state and local agencies tasked with
counterdrug control missions. The panels include key enabling technologies, systems, and
program plans arrayed on a ten-year development roadmap. The roadmap approach developed by
the IAWG-T supports the preparation of regional technology development plans, such as the
five-year plan for non-intrusive inspection technology development and infrastructure
support to the Southwest Border Initiative.
More than 20 federal agencies have responsibility either for interdiction of the flow
and distribution of illegal drugs or for prevention and treatment efforts to help
individuals addicted to drugs. Within the group of agencies, lead agencies have been
designated to implement the ten-year technology plan and development roadmap. While these
agencies are consulted within the R&D decision process and will carry out
implementation of the plan, ONDCP/CTAC has the legislative mandate for oversight and
coordination of the national counterdrug R&D program. This is the first attempt at
deriving a long term plan for the full range of technologies needed for counterdrug
missions and responsibilities. The guidance provided herein will serve to assist
individual agencies in determining the optimum allocation of technology resources most
essential to their particular mission.
Three panels (Wide Area Surveillance, Non-Intrusive Inspection, and Tactical
Technologies) address counterdrug and law enforcement technology for the reduction of the
supply of illicit drugs. Several technologies, such as surveillance and communications,
have applications which can relate to several or all of the panels identified for supply
reduction. These technologies may appear several places within this plan. The schematic
shown in Figure 2 illustrates the interrelationship of the supply reduction panels. The
fourth panel, Demand Reduction, addresses applications of technology to reduce the demand
of drugs through prevention and treatment and is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 2. Supply Reduction Process
Wide Area Surveillance (WAS) technologies support reducing the supply of illicit drugs
by improving efforts to detect, disrupt and interdict drug growth and production
facilities, drug shipment movement, and distribution as outlined in areas 1, 2 and 3 of
Figure 2. Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) technologies support reducing the supply of drugs
by providing for rapid inspection of personnel, conveyances and large shipments at
ports-of-entry, at sea, and along the border for the presence of hidden illicit drugs
entering the country, as well as currency and firearms leaving the country, and
concentrate on area 3 of Figure 2. Tactical Technologies (TAC) support reducing the supply
of drugs through the application of technology to disrupt drug trafficking and deter drug
crime at the wholesale and retail activity shown as areas 4 and 5 in Figure 2.
Demand Reduction (DR), as shown in Figure 3, includes the development and application
of technology and science in support of academic medicine and the medical, biotechnology,
and pharmaceutical industries. Existing and new technologies must be integrated within
existing institutional systems where the DR technologies will be applied. These
institutional systems include: the education systems, health care systems, public
relations (PR) and communications systems, and the criminal justice system.
Figure 3. Demand Reduction Process
ONDCP/CTAC, in its oversight and coordination role, has the responsibility to reduce
duplication of effort, to provide test and evaluation support, and to conduct test bed
assessments of the operational utility of maturing prototype technology across all panels
and does so in conjunction with relevant agencies. CTAC also actively reaches out to the
academic, government laboratory, and industrial development communities through symposia
and workshops to improve the overall knowledge of the state of the art and to reduce
potential for duplication. CTAC has an expanded and key role in the transfer of emerging
counterdrug technology to state and local agencies.
Preparation of the Plan
Lead federal organizations within the IAWG-T have been designated to be responsible for
coordinating technology requirements and applications within each panel. Lead agencies are
those organizations principally responsible for procurement, acquisition, and operation of
the eventual systems that result from technology development as it matures out of the
respective panel. For the preparation of this plan, each federal drug control agency was
requested to assign representatives to each of the four panels, and to assist in compiling
requirements and plans. The composition of each panel is given in Table 1.
Table 1. Technology Panel Composition
