DHS Should Improve Metrics Around Fentanyl Countertrafficking Measure Effectiveness, GAO Report Says
U.S. government agencies continue their efforts to disrupt illicit fentanyl production and seize shipments of the drug, but a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that agencies can do better to communicate and track performance.
In 2024, fentanyl-linked overdose deaths reached around 48,000 in the United States—accounting for 60 percent of the nation’s overdose deaths, the GAO noted in its report, Illicit Fentanyl: DHS Has Various Efforts to Combat Trafficking but Could Better Assess Effectiveness.
“Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin,” the report said. “As a result, a very small amount of fentanyl or its analogues can increase the risk of overdose.”
Including joint operations with other law enforcement groups, agencies within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seized 460,000 pounds of fentanyl and precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl and 10,000 pieces of equipment used to make fentanyl pills from 2021 through 2024.
About 72 percent of fentanyl components that DHS seized were transported by passenger trucks, while 84 percent of seized precursor chemicals were transported by commercial vehicles, including cargo trucks, ships, and planes. Nearly half of seized production equipment was transported by mail.
“Our analysis of DHS seizure data shows that from fiscal years 2021 through 2024, the majority of fentanyl seized by DHS components (about 68 percent) came from Mexico,” the GAO report said. “Most seized fentanyl precursor chemicals (about 84 percent) and production equipment (about 78 percent) came from China.”
Although DHS analyzes and reports data on its efforts to combat fentanyl tracking, its ability to fully assess those efforts’ effectiveness is limited, the GAO explained.
The two agencies within DHS that are most involved with fentanyl investigations and confiscations are U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which inspects incoming travelers and shipments and patrols the U.S. border, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HIS), which investigates bad actors and transnational criminal investigations. They both conduct special operations to disrupt fentanyl supply chains and collaborate with federal, state, local, and foreign law enforcement partners to address fentanyl trafficking and other crimes.
The challenge lies in metrics. DHS tasked CBP with establishing a program to collect data and develop measures to assess anti-trafficking efforts’ effectiveness, but CBP does not have access to the information required to do so. In addition, DHS has not developed performance goals and measures related to the technology and strategies used to combat fentanyl tracking, GAO said.
“By developing performance goals for its strategic goals as well as measures for those performance goals, which could be established through the statutorily required program, DHS would be better positioned to assess progress toward achieving its long-term goals,” the report said.
