[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1413 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1413
To require the Secretary of Defense to establish an initiative on
improving the capacity of military criminal investigative organizations
to prevent child sexual exploitation, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 9, 2019
Mr. Schatz (for himself and Ms. Murkowski) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed
Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Defense to establish an initiative on
improving the capacity of military criminal investigative organizations
to prevent child sexual exploitation, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``End National Defense Network Abuse
Act of 2019'' or the ``END Network Abuse Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) In a survey of online peer-to-peer networks, there is
an alarming amount of traffic related to the online trading and
sharing of child sexual exploitation material.
(2) Child sexual exploitation, which includes child
pornography, child sexual abuse, and child sex trafficking is a
complex and growing problem that requires a coordinated,
multifaceted response.
(3) Victims of child sexual exploitation are less likely to
self-report or be identified by outside sources because of
their age and the nature of the crimes committed against them.
(4) Individuals participating in the possession and trade
of child pornography are significantly more likely to also
participate in other forms of child sexual exploitation,
including child sexual abuse and child trafficking.
(5) The detection of online peer-to-peer trading of child
pornography focuses on images of children under age 12.
Approximately 20 percent of the total number of child sexual
exploitation images discovered feature children ages 0 to 4.
(6) The Internet Crimes Against Children Child Online
Protective Services (ICACCOPS) program has been used to
identify and collect evidence for the purpose of prosecuting
offenders online. The program also catalogues images and
creates a digital library for the purpose of identifying
victims of child sexual exploitation through these images.
(7) In 2017, using such program, which scans the Internet
for peer-to-peer trading of child pornography, law enforcement
officials identified 663,853 unique Internet Protocol (IP)
addresses associated with the possession or trading of child
pornography. Each unique Internet Protocol address is
associated with possessing or trading a range of images, with
some possessing more than 50,000 images that depict the sexual
abuse of children.
(8) Training military criminal investigative organizations
on advanced tools is integral to the protection of both
military and civilian children.
(9) Continued training on advanced technological tools will
allow military criminal investigative organizations to acquire,
adapt, and maintain the technical skills and knowledge needed
to keep up with the landscape of online child sexual
exploitation, which is constantly changing as perpetrators take
new steps to avoid detection.
(10) There are existing best practices and models that the
Department of Defense should leverage, including online
technologies that can simplify the investigative process.
SEC. 3. INITIATIVE TO IMPROVE THE CAPACITY OF MILITARY CRIMINAL
INVESTIGATIVE ORGANIZATIONS TO PREVENT CHILD SEXUAL
EXPLOITATION.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall establish an
initiative on improving the capacity of military criminal investigative
organizations to prevent child sexual exploitation. Under the
initiative, the Secretary shall work with an external partner to train
military criminal investigative organization officials at Department of
Defense installations from all military departments regarding--
(1) online investigative technology, tools, and techniques;
(2) computer forensics;
(3) complex evidentiary issues;
(4) child victim identification;
(5) child victim referral for comprehensive investigation
and treatment services; and
(6) related instruction.
(b) Partnerships and Agreements.--Under the initiative, the
Secretary shall develop partnerships and establish collaborative
agreements with the following:
(1) The Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney
General, in better coordinating the investigative jurisdictions
and law enforcement authorities of the military criminal
investigative organizations, and in improving the justice
community's understanding of those law enforcement authorities
to enforce Federal criminal statutes.
(2) Federal criminal investigative organizations
responsible for enforcement of Federal criminal statutes
related to combatting child sexual exploitation, in order to
ensure a streamlined process for transferring criminal
investigations into child exploitation to other jurisdictions,
while maintaining the integrity of the evidence already
collected.
(3) A highly qualified national child protection
organization or law enforcement training center with
demonstrated expertise in the delivery of law enforcement
training--
(A) to detect, identify, investigate, and prosecute
individuals engaged in the trading or production of
child pornography and the online solicitation of
children; and
(B) to train military criminal investigative
organization officials at Department of Defense
installations from all military departments.
(4) A highly qualified national child protection
organization with demonstrated expertise in the development and
delivery of multidisciplinary intervention training including
evidence-based forensic interviewing, victim advocacy, trauma-
informed mental health services, medical services, and
multidisciplinary coordination between the Department of
Defense and civilian experts to improve outcomes for victims of
child sexual exploitation.
(5) Children's Advocacy Centers located in the same
communities as military installations that coordinate the
multidisciplinary team response and child-friendly approach to
identifying, investigating, prosecuting, and intervening in
child sexual exploitation cases that can partner with military
installations on law enforcement, child protection,
prosecution, mental health, medical, and victim advocacy to
investigate sexual exploitation, help children heal from sexual
exploitation, and hold offenders accountable.
(6) State and local authorities to address law enforcement
capacity in communities where military installations are
located, and to prevent lapses in jurisdiction that would
undercut the Department's efforts to prevent child sexual
exploitation.
(7) The National Association to Protect Children and the
United States Special Operations Command Care Coalition to
replicate successful outcomes of the Human Exploitation Rescue
Operative (HERO) Child Rescue Corps, as established by section
890A of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 473),
within military criminal investigative organizations and other
Department components to combat child sexual exploitation.
(c) Locations.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall carry out the
initiative--
(A) in at least two States where there is a high
density of Department network users in comparison to
the overall population of the States;
(B) in at least two States where there is a high
population of Department network users;
(C) in at least two States where there is a large
percentage of Indian children, including children who
are Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian;
(D) in at least one State with a population with
fewer than 2,000,000 people;
(E) in at least one State with a population with
fewer than 5,000,000 people, but not fewer than
2,000,000 people;
(F) in at least one State with a population with
fewer than 10,000,000 people, but not fewer than
5,000,000; and
(G) in at least one State with a population with
10,000,000 or more people.
(2) Geographic distribution.--The Secretary shall ensure
that the locations at which the initiative is carried out are
distributed across different regions.
(d) Additional Requirements.--In carrying out the initiative, the
Secretary shall--
(1) participate in multi-jurisdictional task forces;
(2) establish cooperative agreements to facilitate co-
training and collaboration with Federal, State, and local law
enforcement; and
(3) develop a streamlined process to refer child sexual
abuse cases to other jurisdictions.
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