Grace Meng: “This amendment would allow U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement officers to be placed in diplomatic posts…”

“This amendment would allow U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement officers to be placed in diplomatic posts abroad in an effort to combat the illegal killing of African elephants. Honestly, this is an activity in which the Fish and Wildlife Service already engages. What the underlying bill does in section 1004, however, which I think is commendable, is explicitly authorizes this activity in law for the first time. Unfortunately, I feel the authorization is overly narrow because it allows only one FWS officer to be placed in a single country at a time. I think this was likely a drafting oversight and simply wish to allow more than one FWS officer to be assigned to a foreign country at a time. Let me be clear. This amendment does not mandate that multiple officers be sent abroad. It does not authorize any additional funds for these activities. It does not require an increase in any way on the number of FWS officers placed abroad. It simply allows more than one FWS officer to be placed in a single country at any given time. In reality, this amendment could, should we wish it, result in a net decrease in the number of FWS law enforcement agents placed abroad, resulting in lowered costs to the U.S. Government for these activities. Imagine a scenario in which elephant poaching and ivory trafficking was running rampant in 20 different nations and we wished to assist in the combating of these activities by leveraging the expertise and experience of U.S.…”