This bill authorizes incentive pay for Department of Justice employees with specialized cyber skills dedicated to combating online fentanyl trafficking.
Joe Neguse
Representative
CO-2
The Combating Online Fentanyl Trafficking Act authorizes the Attorney General to provide incentive pay of up to 25% of salary for Department of Justice employees possessing specialized cyber skills essential to combating fentanyl trafficking. This new pay structure is designed to attract and retain talent needed for digital investigations into illicit fentanyl distribution. The incentive pay is specifically excluded from certain federal pay caps but will count toward retirement calculations.
DOJ Can Now Offer 25% Bonus Pay to Tech Experts Hunting Online Fentanyl Traffickers
The “Combating Online Fentanyl Trafficking Act” is a straightforward piece of legislation designed to give the Department of Justice (DOJ) a better shot at hiring and keeping the kind of tech talent necessary to fight drug distribution networks that operate online. Think of it as a specialized signing bonus and retention package for federal cyber sleuths.
The War for Tech Talent: DOJ Edition
This bill acknowledges a core reality: the federal government struggles to compete with the private sector for top-tier computer experts. Fentanyl trafficking has moved increasingly onto encrypted apps and the dark web, meaning law enforcement needs serious digital firepower to keep up. Section 2 of this Act gives the Attorney General the authority to offer incentive pay—up to 25% of an employee’s base salary—to DOJ staff whose jobs specifically require “significant cyber skills” to detect, stop, or prosecute fentanyl trafficking. This incentive pay is contingent on Congress actually setting aside the cash for it, so it’s not a guaranteed budget line item, but it creates the mechanism.
What the Extra Pay Means for Retirement and Pay Caps
Normally, the federal government has strict salary caps and rules about how much total premium pay (like overtime or bonuses) an employee can receive. This incentive pay gets special treatment. First, the bill explicitly states that this 25% bonus doesn’t count toward the overall cap on total earnings (5 U.S.C. § 5547). This is key for attracting high-earners. Second, and maybe more interesting for the employees, this incentive pay will be treated as part of their “basic pay” when calculating their retirement benefits (5 U.S.C. § 8331(3)). This means that the extra money they earn while fighting online drug rings actually increases their federal pension down the road. It’s a smart way to retain skilled people who might otherwise jump ship for a bigger private sector paycheck.
Real-World Impact: Who Benefits?
This legislation targets a very specific group: DOJ employees with expertise in computers, networks, IT, or the internet—the technical folks who can trace cryptocurrency transactions, decrypt communications, and dismantle online marketplaces. For the rest of us, the benefit is the hope that the federal government can finally staff up its digital forensics and investigative teams to tackle the online distribution of dangerous substances like fentanyl. If this bill works as intended, it means better-equipped law enforcement going after the sources that are using sophisticated technology to move drugs, potentially leading to fewer drugs on the street. The cost, of course, is borne by taxpayers, but only if and when Congress appropriates the funds to pay these higher salaries.