Counternarcotics Enhancement Act

Who is affected and how:

• Elements of the U.S. intelligence community: Directly affected. They must inventory and report existing direct relationships with Mexican government entities, develop counternarcotics strategies, and identify resource and authority needs. This creates an administrative and analytic workload on offices across the intelligence community and may require interagency coordination.
• Director of National Intelligence (DNI): Responsible for consolidating submissions, producing an unclassified action plan (and potential classified annex), and transmitting the result to congressional intelligence committees. The DNI also gains the authority to request changes in authorities or funding for FY2026 to implement the plan.
• Congressional intelligence committees: Receive a consolidated, unclassified action plan (plus any classified annex) to inform oversight and potential legislative or appropriations responses.
• Government of Mexico and U.S. partners: Likely to be affected operationally through any strengthened cooperation that follows from planning and resource recommendations. The law encourages closer coordination but does not itself create new bilateral agreements.
• Fiscal and legal impact: The provision requires planning and reporting and permits the DNI to request resources/authority changes, but it does not itself appropriate funds or enact new legal authorities. Any additional funding or statutory changes would require separate congressional action.

Overall effect: The legislation is primarily a near-term planning, reporting, and oversight directive intended to improve coordination between U.S. intelligence agencies and Mexican counterparts on counternarcotics work. It increases transparency to Congress and may lead to future requests for funding or authority changes, but it does not itself mandate operational changes or spending.