2000 Counterdrug Research and Development Blueprint Update
Executive Summary
The Counterdrug Technology
Assessment Center (CTAC) was established within the Office of National
Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) as the central counterdrug enforcement
research and development (R&D) organization of the U.S. Government.
The CTAC counterdrug R&D program supports the National Drug Control
Strategy and its five goals:
- educate and
enable America's youth to reject illegal drugs as well as alcohol
and tobacco,
- increase the
safety of America's citizens by substantially reducing drug-related
crime and violence,
- reduce health
and social costs to the public of illegal drug use,
- shield America's
air, land and sea frontiers from the drug threat, and
- break foreign
and domestic drug sources of supply.
This sixth Counterdrug
R&D Blueprint Update provides the status of the CTAC counterdrug R&D
program, the Technology Transfer Program, oversight and coordination
activity, and a summary of plans for future counterdrug R&D initiatives.
Appendices provide the following related material:
- Appendix A
provides a listing of recent legislation and conference reports,
- Appendix B
provides a listing of scientific and technological needs by technology
area and agency,
- Appendix C
provides a listing of R&D projects being sponsored by each agency,
- Appendix D
provides the Annual Report on the Development and Deployment of
Narcotics Detection Technologies (required by P.L. 105-85), and
- Appendix E
provides a summary of the Technology Transfer Program.
CTAC
R&D Program
The applied technology
efforts that comprise the CTAC R&D program address technology for
demand reduction in areas, such as, brain imaging technology, therapeutic
medications assessment and addiction treatment, and for supply reduction
in areas such as drug detection, communications, and surveillance.
In 1998, Congress authorized a Technology Transfer Program (TTP) for
CTAC to provide successfully developed technologies to State and local
law enforcement agencies. Congress continued the TTP program in 1999
and 2000.
In reducing the
demand for illicit drugs, CTAC has worked in conjunction with the
National Institute on Drug Abuse to provide the most advanced facilities
to the nation's premier teams of medical researchers working on the
underlying causes of substance abuse, dependence, and addiction. This
has been accomplished by providing the leading medical research institutions
with the neuro-imaging facilities, infrastructure, and technology
necessary to support their substance abuse research programs.
The R&D efforts
are heavily concentrated in the area of brain imaging technology and
the development of catalytic antibodies, therapeutic drug assessment,
treatment effectiveness, juvenile diversion from the criminal justice
system, and studies of the use of banned substances in intercollegiate
and Olympic sports.
Additionally,
the Drug Evaluation Network System backbone is being used to accommodate
innovative methodologies for estimating the number of hardcore drug
users by region and nationwide. The vision is to provide a system
architecture to project drug abuse trends, treatment modalities, and
populations at risk across the nation in real time.
In Supply Reduction,
efforts are concentrated on finding technological solutions to meet
the needs of the officer on the beat. These technologies provide improved
communications, surveillance and drug crime information sharing capabilities
to make the law enforcement missions more effective, safe, and to
ensure successful prosecutions. Technologies proven at the Federal
level are being provided to State and local law enforcement through
the continuing Technology Transfer Program.
Advanced coded
aperture and neutron probe technologies are being developed to examine
drug shipments as they enter the country. These advanced nonintrusive
inspection technology concepts will, in time, replace the X-ray and
gamma ray technology now used to search conveyances and cargo for
hidden drugs at our ports-of-entry.
The Technology
Transfer Program was established to provide technologies developed
with Federal funding directly to State and local law enforcement agencies.
The technology areas available for transfer include information technology
and analytical tools, communications, tracking and surveillance, and
drug detection devices. Hands-on training and limited maintenance
support are provided to all recipients.
Over the past
two years, the Technology Transfer Program has made possible the delivery
of 892 pieces of equipment to 631 State and local law enforcement
agencies. The evaluation reports from the recipient agencies indicate
that the technologies have been readily integrated into the operations
of these State and local agencies. The technologies have contributed
to improved counterdrug operations. In general, the result has been
an increase in drug-related arrests with a dramatic improvement in
officer safety at each agency.
To reach out to
the national and international counterdrug R&D community, a fifth
International Technology Symposium was held last March in Washington,
DC. Last year CTAC also participated in the first United States-United
Kingdom (UK) Drug Summit in London, several international scientific
meetings, and in technology exchange meetings with the Federal Police
of Israel.
The Ten-Year
Counterdrug Technology Plan and Development Roadmap organized
the technology development efforts of the Federal drug control agencies.
Each agency now prepares annual plans, performance reports and five-year
strategic plans. CTAC continues to review and monitor the progress
of each agency's technology development program based on these submissions.
