Introduction
The PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008 requires that the Attorney General develop and implement a National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction (National Strategy). The first National Strategy was published in 2010. This, the second National Strategy, builds on that work.
This National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction has described in detail the current efforts of the Department of Justice and its law enforcement partners to find, prosecute, and punish those who prey on the nation’s children. It has described, as well, efforts by those agencies and others to engage in public outreach and awareness to prevent children from being victimized in the first place, whether through enticement of the unwary on-line or through their exploitation on the streets of the nation’s cities. It addressed the unique circumstances that lead to child exploitation in Indian Country and the responses that are necessary to protect tribal victims. It further detailed the efforts by the Department and other agencies to provide services to children that account for the complex, intersecting, and long-lasting harms that exploitation causes. And it has forecast a future of greater technological and global threats. In order to face those threats, the National Strategy has outlined a series of goals for law enforcement, prosecutors, and victim service providers, among others, for protecting the nation’s children. Most importantly, the National Strategy reaffirms our unwavering commitment to ensuring that all children in America are able to reach their potential and are protected from violence and abuse.
The National Strategy is a culmination of a year of discussions among members of an inter-agency working group convened by the National Coordinator for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction at the Department of Justice (DOJ, or the Department). The National Strategy first discusses the work of federal law enforcement agencies and prosecutors since 2010, as well as other agencies and offices that play important roles in this work by supporting victims, providing grants to state, local, and tribal governments and non-profit partners, and educating the public about the dangers of child exploitation, and also the work of the non-governmental National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). Second, it provides a threat assessment that addresses the nature and scope of the problem and updates the assessment contained in the 2010 National Strategy. Third, it lays out plans for continuing the fight against child exploitation in four key areas: investigations and prosecutions; outreach and education; victim services; and policy initiatives. Fourth, the National Strategy has a section dedicated solely to child exploitation in Indian Country, as the issues there are often unique. Finally, a series of appendices include statistics on federal prosecutions; detailed tables of information on the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program (ICAC program) funded by DOJ; research on child exploitation funded by DOJ; a summary of the survey on which the threat assessment is based; and the text of DOJ legislative proposals. Throughout the National Strategy case studies are included as examples of child exploitation prosecutions brought by DOJ. A review of efforts to combat child exploitation follows.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
The FBI leads Child Exploitation Task Forces (CETFs), collaborating with nearly 400 state, local, tribal, and federal law enforcement partners to identify and prosecute individuals and enterprises that sexually exploit children. The FBI also leads the Innocence Lost National Initiative (ILNI) to address the problem of children being recruited into prostitution by sex traffickers. Currently, the ILNI operates as part of 71 CETFs nationwide. Under the ILNI, the FBI conducts Operation Cross Country annually to recover children from sex traffickers and coordinate victim services for identified victims.
The FBI also leads the Innocent Images National Initiative (IINI), a proactive, intelligence-driven, multi-agency investigative operation that focuses on combating the proliferation of child pornography and child sexual exploitation worldwide. The IINI provides centralized coordination and analysis of case information that is both national and international in scope. In Fiscal Year 2014 through 2015, the IINI program was credited with over 2,900 arrests and 2,200 convictions involving the online sexual exploitation of children. In addition, the FBI operates a Child Sex Tourism (CST) Initiative targeting U.S. citizens who travel abroad to engage in sexual activity with children. Finally, the FBI operates a Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) Team to provide a nationwide resource to support child abduction and critically missing children investigations.
The FBI’s work is supported by the Violent Crimes Against Children (VCAC) Intelligence Unit, which engages in intelligence collection, analysis, and dissemination; identifies VCAC threats, trends, and vulnerabilities; writes national-in-scope intelligence products; identifies intelligence gaps and collection requirements; and provides actionable intelligence to law enforcement, policy makers, non-governmental organizations, private industry, and the public to aid in the identification, recovery, and prevention of child victims. In addition, FBI’s Digital Analysis Research Center provides digital forensic extraction and analysis, testimony, and support to the FBI’s VCAC program.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)/Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
ICE HSI’s child exploitation investigations focus on two areas of enforcement, under the auspices of what is known as Operation Predator: disruption and dismantlement of individuals and groups involved in: (1) the possession, receipt, distribution, transportation, advertisement, and production of child pornography; and (2) travel in foreign or interstate commerce to engage in illicit sexual conduct with minors. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, ICE HSI has initiated over 35,000 criminal investigations and arrested over 16,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child exploitation material, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2017, more than 2,700 child predators were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 900 victims identified or rescued. Also part of Operation Predator, ICE HSI’s Angel Watch is an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators who have been previously convicted of sex crimes against a child. ICE HSI strategically alerts foreign law enforcement partners through its ICE HSI Attaché offices of a convicted child predator’s intent to travel to their country.