[House Hearing, 115 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
HONORING OUR COMMITMENT TO
RECOVER AND PROTECT MISSING
AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN
=======================================================================
6HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
AND THE WORKFORCE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, MARCH 16, 2017
__________
Serial No. 115-9
__________
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COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE
VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina, Chairwoman
Joe Wilson, South Carolina Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott,
Duncan Hunter, California Virginia
David P. Roe, Tennessee Ranking Member
Glenn ``GT'' Thompson, Pennsylvania Susan A. Davis, California
Tim Walberg, Michigan Raul M. Grijalva, Arizona
Brett Guthrie, Kentucky Joe Courtney, Connecticut
Todd Rokita, Indiana Marcia L. Fudge, Ohio
Lou Barletta, Pennsylvania Jared Polis, Colorado
Luke Messer, Indiana Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan,
Bradley Byrne, Alabama Northern Mariana Islands
David Brat, Virginia Frederica S. Wilson, Florida
Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin Suzanne Bonamici, Oregon
Steve Russell, Oklahoma Mark Takano, California
Elise Stefanik, New York Alma S. Adams, North Carolina
Rick W. Allen, Georgia Mark DeSaulnier, California
Jason Lewis, Minnesota Donald Norcross, New Jersey
Francis Rooney, Florida Lisa Blunt Rochester, Delaware
Paul Mitchell, Michigan Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois
Tom Garrett, Jr., Virginia Carol Shea-Porter, New Hampshire
Lloyd K. Smucker, Pennsylvania Adriano Espaillat, New York
A. Drew Ferguson, IV, Georgia
Brandon Renz, Staff Director
Denise Forte, Minority Staff Director
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C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held on March 16, 2017................................... 1
Statement of Members:
Bonamici, Hon. Suzanne, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Oregon............................................ 3
Prepared statement of.................................... 4
Foxx, Hon. Virginia, Chairwoman, Committee on Education and
the Workforce.............................................. 1
Prepared statement of.................................... 2
Statement of Witnesses:
Clark, Mr. John F., President and Chief Executive Officer,
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children..... 6
Prepared statement of.................................... 8
Additional Submissions:
Chairwoman Foxx:
Slide: Protecting Vulnerable Children.................... 35
Scott, Hon. Robert C. ``Bobby'', Ranking Member, Committee on
Education and the Workforce:
Prepared statement of.................................... 37
Questions submitted for the record by:
Polis, Hon. Jared, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Colorado...................................... 42
Roe, Hon. David P., a Representative in Congress from the
State of Tennessee..................................... 42
Mr. Clark, response to questions submitted for the record.... 43
HONORING OUR COMMITMENT TO
RECOVER AND PROTECT MISSING
AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN
----------
Thursday, March 16, 2017
House of Representatives
Committee on Education and the Workforce
Washington, D.C.
----------
The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:00 a.m., in Room
2175, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Virginia Foxx
[chairwoman of the committee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Foxx, Roe, Thompson, Walberg,
Guthrie, Messer, Stefanik, Allen, Mitchell, Garrett, Courtney,
Sablan, Bonamici, Takano, Adams, Norcross, and Espaillat.
Staff Present: Courtney Butcher, Director of Member
Services and Coalitions; Amy Raaf Jones, Director of Education
and Human Resources Policy; Nancy Locke, Chief Clerk; Dominique
McKay, Deputy Press Secretary; James Mullen, Director of
Information Technology; Krisann Pearce, General Counsel; Lauren
Reddington, Deputy Press Secretary; Mandy Schaumburg, Education
Deputy Director and Senior Counsel; Alissa Strawcutter, Deputy
Clerk; Leslie Tatum, Professional Staff Member; Sheariah
Yousefi, Legislative Assistant; Tylease Alli, Minority Clerk/
Intern and Fellow Coordinator; Austin Barbera, Minority Press
Assistant; Jacque Chevalier, Minority Deputy Education Policy
Director; Mishawn Freeman, Minority Staff Assistant; and
Alexander Payne, Minority Education Policy Advisor.
Chairwoman Foxx. A quorum being present, the Committee on
Education and the Workforce will come to order. Good morning,
and welcome to today's hearing on the commitment we as a Nation
have made to recover and protect missing and exploited
children.
So much of the work we do on this committee is about
creating opportunities for individuals to learn, grow, and
achieve success in their lives. Unfortunately, statistics and
the nightly news continue to act as shocking reminders that too
many children in this country are not thinking about the
future. They are thinking about their survival. Last year
alone, there were more than 465,000 reports of missing
children.
No child should live in fear of being taken from his or her
family. No child should live in fear of abuse or exploitation.
No child should live in fear of becoming the victim of a
heinous crime. No child should live in fear, period.
That is why protecting our most vulnerable children has
long been a national priority. In 1984, the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children, or NCMEC, was created to play a
role in that important effort.
Since that time, NCMEC has coordinated and supported State
and local efforts to recover children who are missing, and
support youth who are victims of violent crimes. The
organization works with law enforcement, families, schools,
community leaders, and nonprofit organizations, with a shared
goal: providing help to children who are in desperate need of
protection.
Through a number of initiatives and programs, NCMEC
operates a 24-hour hotline and a CyberTipline, maintains a
nationwide database on cases of missing children, and provides
technical assistance to other recovery and prevention efforts.
The organization also coordinates resources to victims,
their families, and the professionals who help them, and it
engages in public-private partnerships to assist State, local
leaders, and community partners in their efforts.
As President Ronald Reagan said when opening NCMEC in 1984,
``No single sector of our Nation can solve the problem of
missing and exploited children alone, but by working together,
pooling our resources, and building on our strengths, we can
accomplish great things.''
Today, NCMEC continues the mission articulated by President
Reagan more than 30 years ago. In 2016, the Center assisted
with approximately 21,000 cases of missing children. Of those
cases, 90 percent were endangered runaways, and roughly one in
six of those children was a likely victim of child sex
trafficking.
Over the years, Congress has worked closely with NCMEC to
ensure it has the tools it needs to do its job effectively. We
have also worked to ensure taxpayer dollars being used to
support the Center's efforts are spent responsibly, and that is
the purpose of this hearing; for an update from the
organization itself.
Today, we have with us John Clark, president and chief
executive officer. Mr. Clark, we are pleased to hear from you
about the work NCMEC is doing to help vulnerable children
across the country, as well as the challenges you face and
improvements that can be made to help NCMEC continue its work.
As I stated earlier, your efforts play a critical role in a
national commitment to help our most vulnerable children.
In the words of President Reagan, ``Together, we can turn
the tide on these hateful crimes.''
I look forward to continuing to work with you, and my
colleagues on both sides of the aisle, to do just that.
I now yield to Ms. Bonamici as the ranking member for her
opening remarks.
[The statement of Chairwoman Foxx follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Virginia Foxx, Chairwoman, Committee on
Education and the Workforce
Good morning, and welcome to today's hearing on the commitment we--
as a nation--have made to recover and protect missing and exploited
children.
So much of the work we do on this committee is about creating
opportunities for individuals to learn, grow, and achieve success in
their lives. Unfortunately, statistics and the nightly news continue to
act as shocking reminders that too many children in this country aren't
thinking about the future. They're thinking about their survival. Last
year alone, there were more than 465,000 reports of missing children.
No child should live in fear of being taken from his or her family.
No child should live in fear of abuse or exploitation. No child should
live in fear of becoming the victim of a heinous crime.
No child should live in fear. Period.
That's why protecting our most vulnerable children has long been a
national priority. In 1984, the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children, or NCMEC, was created to play a role in that
important effort.
Since that time, NCMEC has coordinated and supported state and
local efforts to recover children who are missing and support youth who
are victims of violent crimes. The organization works with law
enforcement, families, schools, community leaders, and nonprofit
organizations with a shared goal--providing help to children who are in
desperate need of protection.
Through a number of initiatives and programs, NCMEC operates a 24-
hour hotline and a CyberTipline; maintains a nationwide database on
cases of missing children; and provides technical assistance to other
recovery and prevention efforts. The organization also coordinates
resources to victims, their families, and the professionals who help
them; and it engages in public-private partnerships to assist state,
local leaders, and community partners in their efforts.
As President Ronald Reagan said when opening NCMEC in 1984:
``No single sector of our nation can solve the problem of missing
and exploited children alone. But by working together, pooling our
resources, and building on our strengths, we can accomplish great
things.''
Today, NCMEC continues the mission articulated by President Reagan
more than 30 years ago. In 2016, the center assisted with approximately
21,000 cases of missing children. Of those cases, 90 percent were
endangered runaways, and roughly one in six of those children was a
likely victim of child sex trafficking.
Over the years, Congress has worked closely with NCMEC to ensure it
has the tools it needs to do its job effectively. We have also worked
to ensure taxpayer dollars being used to support the center's efforts
are spent responsibly. And that's the purpose of this hearing--for an
update from the organization itself. Today, we have with us John Clark,
president and chief executive officer of NCMEC.
Mr. Clark, we are pleased to hear from you about the work NCMEC is
doing to help vulnerable children across the country, as well as the
challenges you face and improvements that can be made to help NCMEC
continue its work. As I stated earlier, your efforts play a critical
role in a national commitment to help our most vulnerable children.
In the words of President Reagan, ``Together, we can turn the tide
on these hateful crimes.'' I look forward to continuing to work with
you--and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle--to do just that.I
will now yield to Ranking Member Bonamici for her opening remarks.
______
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you, Chair Foxx, for holding this
hearing, and thank you, Mr. Clark, for your testimony and your
expertise.
Since it was established in 1984, the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children has been working to reunite
missing children with their families and loved ones.
In 2016, the National Center worked on more than 20,500
missing children cases, and in Oregon, currently, there are 65
active missing children cases on NCMEC's website, just in my
own home State. These are children who are separated from their
families, who have loved ones looking for them and who need to
be found.
In fact, just this week, a nine-year-old girl from Gresham,
Oregon, went missing overnight. Thankfully, she was located and
reunited with her mother after a concerned citizen, who had
seen her picture on the local news, recognized her and called
the police. The quick distribution of this girl's picture and
fast thinking of a neighbor prevented tragedy from occurring.
Unfortunately, many other families are not as lucky.
The world can be a dangerous place for our children and our
rapidly advancing technologies can make it even more
challenging to protect our kids.
Mr. Clark, I applaud the work you and NCMEC have done to
not only keep up with technological advances, but to use those
advances to better protect children.
I am looking forward to hearing more from you about your
CyberTipline initiative to receive tips about online sexual
exploitation, the NetSmartz411 program to educate parents about
online safety, and the KidSmartz program, to better prepare
kids for online risks.
I also want to make sure we address the particular dangers
facing minority children and our LGBTQ youth. It is a tragic
fact that abductions of minority children are grossly
underreported in the media.
In Washington, D.C., alone, 10 children of color have been
reported missing since the beginning of March, and only 2 have
been found so far. Ten missing children in 2 weeks is
unspeakable. The media has been slow to report on these youths.
As we know, media reports about missing children are often
critical for reuniting kids and families.
Additionally, LGBTQ youth are at an increased risk of
homelessness if they do not feel welcome in their homes or
their communities. A 2015 study from the Urban Institute told
the heartbreaking stories of LGBTQ youth who run away from home
and engage in survival sex, the practice of trading sex for
money, food, or a place to stay.
We must do everything we can to make sure that we are
protecting all children, including our children of color and
LGBTQ youth.
I want to close by expressing my gratitude to Chair Foxx
and the committee for the bipartisan commitment to extending
the authorization of the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children, and maintaining the Center's independent
status.
I hope that we can continue to work together to protect all
missing and exploited children and reunite them with their
families.
Thank you again, Chair Foxx, and I yield back the balance
of my time.
[The statement of Ms. Bonamici follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Suzanne Bonamici, a Representative in
Congress from the State of Oregon
Thank you, Chair Foxx, for holding this hearing, and thank you, Mr.
Clark, for your testimony and expertise.
Since it was established in 1984, the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children has been working to reunite missing children
with their families and loved ones.
In 2016, NCMEC worked on more than 20,500 missing children cases,
and in Oregon, currently there are 65 active missing children cases on
NCMEC's website. These are children who are separated from their
families, who have loved ones looking for them, and who need to be
found.
In fact, just this week, a 9 year old girl from Gresham, Oregon,
went missing overnight. Thankfully, she was located and reunited with
her mother after a concerned citizen, who had seen her picture on the
local news, recognized her and called police.
The quick distribution of the girl's picture and fast thinking of a
neighbor prevented a tragedy from occurring.
Unfortunately, many other families are not as lucky. The world can
be a dangerous place for our children, and our rapidly-advancing
technology can make it even more challenging to protect our kids.
Mr. Clark, I applaud the work you and NCMEC have done to not only
keep up with technological advances, but to use those advances to
better protect children.
I'm looking forward to hearing more from you about your
CyberTipline initiative to receive tips about online sexual
exploitation, the NetSmartz411 program to educate parents about online
safety, and the KidSmartz program to better prepare kids for online
risks.
I also want to make sure we address the particular dangers facing
minority children and LGBTQ youth.
It is a tragic fact that abductions of minority children are
grossly underreported in the media. In Washington, D.C., alone, 10
children of color have been reported missing since the beginning of
March, and only two have been found so far.
Ten missing children in two weeks is unspeakable, and the media has
been slow to report on these youth. As we know, media reports about
missing children are often critical for reuniting kids and families.
Additionally, LGBTQ youth are at an increased risk of homelessness
if they do not feel welcome in their homes or communities. A 2015 study
from the Urban Institute told the heartbreaking stories of LGBTQ youth
who run away from home and engage in ``survival sex''--the practice of
trading sex for money, food, or a place to stay.
We must do everything we can to make sure that we are protecting
all children--including our children of color and LGBTQ youth.
I want to close by expressing my gratitude to Chair Foxx and the
Committee for the bipartisan commitment to extending authorization of
the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and maintaining
the Center's independent status.
I hope that we can continue to work together to protect missing and
exploited children, and reunite families.
Thank you again, Chair Foxx, and I yield the balance of my time.
______
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Ms. Bonamici. Pursuant to
Committee Rule 7(c), all members will be permitted to submit
written statements to be included in the permanent hearing
record. And without objection, the hearing record will remain
open for 14 days to allow such statements and other extraneous
material referenced during the hearing to be submitted for the
official hearing record.
We now turn to introduction of our distinguished witness.
Mr. John Clark serves as the president and chief executive
officer of the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children. Prior to this position,Mr. Clark's career spanned 28
years with the U.S. Marshals Service.
I now ask Mr. Clark to raise his right hand.
Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you are
about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth?
Mr. Clark. I do.
Chairwoman Foxx. Let the record reflect Mr. Clark answered
in the affirmative. Before I recognize you to provide your
testimony, let me briefly explain our lighting system. We allow
5 minutes for the witness to provide testimony. When you begin,
the light in front of you will turn green. When 1 minute is
left, the light will turn yellow. At the 5-minute mark, the
light will turn red, and you should wrap up your testimony.
Members will each have 5 minutes to ask questions.
Mr. Clark, you are recognized for your testimony.
TESTIMONY OF JOHN F. CLARK, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE
OFFICER, THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN
Mr. Clark. Alright. Well, good morning, Chairwoman Foxx and
Congresswoman Bonamici, and members of the committee. I have
had the privilege and honor to serve as a president and CEO of
the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children since
December of 2015.
Now, NCMEC, as we sometimes refer to it, was created in
1984 by John and Reve Walsh and other child advocates as a
private, nonprofit corporation to help find missing children,
reduce child's sexual exploitation, and prevent child
victimization.
Like other large nonprofits, NCMEC receives Federal grant
and private foundation funding, corporate donations, and
private individual donations to enhance our work and engage in
building and promoting a coordinated national response to the
problem of missing and exploited children.
I am pleased to be here to provide you with insights and
updates on NCMEC and the work we have done in the following
years since the last reauthorization in 2013.
Many of you are familiar with such and much of the work
that NCMEC does, so I thought I'd spend my time talking today
about a few key emerging trends and issues that NCMEC has seen
and has taken the lead on addressing since our last
reauthorization.
The committee has long played a leadership role on the
issue of child sex trafficking, and I know it is of particular
interest to many of you today. NCMEC works to combat child sex
trafficking by assisting with cases of missing children and by
operating our CyberTipline.
And additionally, we provide significant support to victims
and families by helping them locate community-based resources,
and we assist victims' legal teams in their efforts to seek
judicial intervention, including restitution.
As you're aware, NCMEC's CyberTipline serves as a central
mechanism where the public technology companies can report
instances of child sexual exploitation, including reports
related to child sex trafficking.
In 2016, NCMEC assisted with approximately 9,000 reports
related to child sex trafficking, but we know that represents
only a fraction of suspected child sex trafficking victims in
this country.
Our handling of child sex trafficking cases has taught us
that child sex trafficking is also a missing child issue. We
have found that one in six endangered runaways reported to
NCMEC in 2016 were likely sex trafficking victims, and of
those, 86 percent were in the care of social services or foster
care when they went missing.
This group of children, who we refer to as ``children
missing from care,'' is an especially vulnerable group, not
only for the overwhelming number that can become victims of sex
trafficking, but also for other dangers that they would face.
A 2014 law required the States to begin reporting each
missing or abducted child in State care to law enforcement and
to NCMEC, and since that bill passed, we've spent a lot of time
reaching out to social service agencies and local jurisdictions
across the country to ensure that these vulnerable children are
reported to NCMEC.
From these reports, we continue to see a significant
increase in the number of children missing from care. For
example, in 2015 to 2016, the number of the cases increased by
89 percent. Through this enhanced reporting, we have also been
better able to assist and support the efforts of State and
local jurisdictions to locate and return missing children to
safe places.
Now the issue of sextortion, you know, many of us are aware
of what's called ``sexting,'' but we are seeing now is that
sexting often turns out to be something called ``sextortion.''
Sextortion is a relatively new form of sexual exploitation that
occurs primarily online where nonphysical forms of coercion are
utilized, such as blackmail, to acquire sexual content, such as
photos or videos of a child, they may obtain money from the
child, or engage in sexual acts with the child.
So report to the CyberTipline is a key way to break the
cycle of victimization. One of the largest extortion cases
unraveled with one victim, Ashley Reynolds, who was 14 when she
was victimized. The family became aware of her online abuse and
reported her case to NCMEC, and we made that information
available to the FBI.
Investigators uncovered more than 350 additional child
victims in 26 States, three Canadian provinces, and the United
Kingdom. They identified 106 of the children, and a defendant
was sentenced to prison.
As you move towards updating our funding authorization, I
would like to thank you for your leadership and ongoing support
of our efforts to recover and protect missing and exploited
children. We stand ready to provide you with our thoughts on
how to better fund our key programs and streamline our work,
and serve the public.
Again, I thank you for this opportunity to appear here
today. I look forward to your questions.
[The statement of Mr. Clark follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you very much, Mr. Clark. Mr.
Guthrie, I recognize you for 5 minutes.
Mr. Guthrie. Thank you, Madam Chairman, for yielding, and
particularly to the courtesy of my friends from Michigan and
Tennessee for allowing me-to yielding this position to me. I
appreciate it very much.
I had a previous commitment, but I wanted to talk to you
because I was the principal coauthor of the reauthorization of
the Missing Children's Assistance Act, and have been to the
NCMEC and seen your dedicated employees and the things that
they do, and some of the miracles.
One story, I remember, they said they had an age
appropriate, someone into their teenage years, and this lady
was in school. They had a picture up, and she looked at it and
said ``that's me!'' and her father had abducted her from her
mom and taken her. The story--
It is just amazing stuff that you guys do, and how much we
appreciate it.
So I want to talk about the 2013 authorization. Would you
discuss what specific changes NCMEC has implemented to comply
with the changes made in the 2013 authorization?
Mr. Clark. Sure. Much of the work that's happened since
2013 has included many of our modernization efforts. We have
collaborated a lot more with some of our other private
partners, including in our technology updates right now. We're
undergoing a total, I would call it, revitalization of how we
are able to utilize technology, which is really the most,
probably, capable tool we have to fight child sex trafficking.
Updating our website, making our CyperTip capability and
analysis go a whole lot faster through partnerships with
organizations like Intel Corporation.
We're doing a lot right now through rebuilding to the
future and being a very forward leaning organization to be able
to combat the scourge of child exploitation.
Mr. Guthrie. Thank you. As the committee considers future
reauthorizations of the act, will you discuss what changes to
the law are needed to support vital work of identifying and
recovering missing and exploited children?
Mr. Clark. Well, the more effort and resources we can pour
into this particular problem, for example, since the child
exploitation issue has really, as you probably know by some of
the statistics I just mentioned, have really doubled,
quadrupled, and gotten to be really out of hand.
I think all the efforts that Congress can do to help us
combat the issue of child exploitation would be vitally
important to us. It's been noted that practically everywhere I
go to speak, that issue is really the number one priority.
If you think back since 2013 to the present, and you just
look at some of the statistics that we have seen, now at the
Center in 2017, the volume in the pipeline is huge.
Mr. Guthrie. Again, I appreciate all the work that you have
done. Somewhere, after we had the meeting with you guys, we
actually went home and did roundtables in different
communities. And had people from the--we had judges, we had
people from the different groups. We explained to people and
tried to make people aware of how prevalent it is in South
Central Kentucky. You know, we think it is just big cities, but
it is not.
And hotel owners, we had some name brand franchises, to
make sure they were aware, and there were some things and tips
we had from your group about let the hotel manager or does it
seeming like different people coming in and out all the time,
just what to look for, because you know, in a hotel are not
seeing the same people every day, but sometimes when you start
seeing that.
I thought it was very helpful, and I think we were able to
spread some of that information to our district, so I recommend
my colleagues to do that.
And again, I appreciate what you are doing, what your staff
is doing. Appreciate you yielding, and I definitely appreciate
the courtesy of my two friends here for letting me go out of
order. I appreciate it very much, and I yield back my time.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Mr. Guthrie. Ms. Bonamici, you
are recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you again,
Mr. Clark, for your testimony. We are policymakers here, but
those of us who are parents never really take off our parent
hats. I really appreciate your work.
And as I mentioned in my opening statement, I am concerned
about children who run away from home. We have a lot of
homeless youth in our school systems, and some of those
students are emancipated. They do not have a family to go home
to, so oftentimes they find themselves struggling to survive on
the streets.
Can you talk a little bit more about what NCMEC does to
help protect these kids and actually prevent them from getting
into sexual exploitation and trafficking?
Mr. Clark. Well, you have hit on one of the critical areas
of our work. We know that in 2016, for example, there were
about 20,500 missing children cases. A far percentage of those
missing children are what we would refer to as ``endangered
runaways'' or ``critical care,'' often coming from broken
homes, or being put into vulnerable circumstances and being
very vulnerable to sex trafficking and other crimes, organized
crime and their members who take advantage of them for.
And so we look at this as really one of our top priorities.
We have been working very closely with a lot of social service
organizations. At our Center itself, we have trained numerous
volunteers who work closely with us, who are coming from the
social service field in their home States, in their home
jurisdictions.
And essentially, we are trying to equip them and have them
help us, and we can help them be able to identify this very
vulnerable and at-risk group.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you very much. You know, there is a
group of the population that is especially hesitant to turn to
law enforcement, or afraid, the immigrant and refugee
population. In recent weeks, there have been increases across
the country in ICE enforcement activities that have created
some fear among not only our undocumented immigrant population,
but also people who might be perceived as being an immigrant.
We are hearing reports of domestic violence victims, for
example, who are afraid to go to court to testify. We are
hearing about families who are afraid to walk their children to
the school bus. People who do not feel safe getting lifesaving
services at shelters or food banks, and sadly, children who are
afraid to go to school because they do not know if their
parents will be home when they get home from school.
So, what can NCMEC do to help families of missing and
exploited children in these communities, families who are
scared or afraid to turn to law enforcement, but still need to
be protected from this type of exploitation?
Mr. Clark. Certainly. Well, I'm pleased to report that at
the National Center, we operate a 24/7 call center, handles
about 500 calls a day. We are able to handle all the calls
through all the languages. We have up to 190 different
languages that we can have at our disposal to be able to
interpret.
I'm also pleased to say that I think in many instances, we
are a first-stop call when there are circumstances involving
missing or exploited children. We know that from our call
center and the type of instances they have with taking calls.
So, I think that from the Center's perspective, we have a
longstanding track record of being very open, very receptive to
whoever calls our hotline and wants to report to us.
And similarly, we know from our capability to put that
messaging out, if it's involving a missing child, through our
social and digital media outlets, and our close relationship
with the news media. We are very proud of our track record, and
have numerous cases of recoveries of children from all
demographics, so we are very proud of that record.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you. Of course, I mentioned prevention
is ideal because then we prevent problems from happening at the
outset. And as we know, technology really is a mixed blessing.
Can you talk a little bit about what you can do and the
work you are doing with families, so parents can educate their
children about what to watch for, what to be aware of, with
technology?
Mr. Clark. Sure. We have a tremendous amount of resources
that we're constantly improving upon. We have a NetSmartz411
program, as we refer to it, that helps parents become aware and
informed, which is a vital, I call them ``tools,'' that parents
should be able to use when it comes to knowing more about what
their children are doing online, and how to guide and protect
them from a parental situation, to be safer when they are
surfing the Net.
We also have our NetSmartz program, which is age
appropriate, for children to learn how to safely navigate on
the Net, how to be careful, how to be safe, what to do if
certain circumstances appear when they're surfing the Net. So
that is another program.
The KidSmartz program, another education and awareness
program, teaches young children how to be safe when they're
just out and about in the public or when they're at school.
That might include things like bullying or what to do if
someone approaches them to try to entice them to get into a car
or go into a park, or in some other place where they shouldn't
be.
We are also interpreting--
Ms. Bonamici. I see my time has expired. Thank you for your
important work. I yield back. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Ms. Bonamici. Dr. Roe, you are
recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Roe. Thank you, Mr. Clark, for what you do and your
organization does. I cannot thank you enough. If NCMEC puts one
child back in a safe environment, all the investments we have
done has been worth it, in my opinion. Every bit of it. I
cannot thank you enough for what you are doing.
I heard--I think I heard you say that 86 or 80 something
percent of children that actually ran away, were exploited or
lost, were from foster care. Did I hear that correctly?
Mr. Clark. Yes, children missing from a foster care type
setting, where they are particularly vulnerable.
Mr. Roe. It looks like that would be an area, if almost 9
out 10 come from that environment, that's a way that we need to
educate and certainly vet our foster parents better.
My next-door neighbor is a school principal, elementary
school principal, and she fostered some children from her
school. It was amazing the education in Tennessee that they put
them through--this family through--I wonder if that is being
done around the country because it looks to me like that would
be the first place I would focus.
Mr. Clark. Yes, I can say that from the Center's
perspective, we're very interested in how we can educate this
particular cross section of our country on how to pay
particular attention to those children who might be in their
care.
We do have and do provide training at the Center for a
number of social service organizations and people who routinely
come in contact or likely to come in contact with individuals
of that nature on how to watch over that particular vulnerable
group. That is a group that is also very vulnerable to sex
trafficking.
Mr. Roe. I have a constituent in my district who lost two
of his children and his wife in the fire in Gatlinburg. His
wife had been-- I am not going to mention his name now - but
his wife had been abused basically, sexually abused as a child,
and dealt with these demons her entire life.
He has an idea, and I want to get together with you all and
discuss this, about a child, and there could be abuse, there is
no question about that, but many young people have a device, a
PDA. Would it be feasible to have an app on the device where if
a child is in a vulnerable or bad situation, they could punch
that--that they could, right then, punch that device with this
app, and then immediately contact somebody like you or
whatever, let them know they might be in trouble?
And I realize any time you do not let your child go to
whatever, they might punch the app. I had three that I might
have to punch if they did that. Basically, you see what I am
saying, to make it easier with technology for children who are
in an exploited situation to get out of it?
Mr. Clark. Congressman, I'm far from a technology expert,
so I'd probably be the last person to answer that question. We
have added an app on-- that is available now, a child safety
app, that has been developed in partnership with one of our
supporters just in the recent year. And I don't know if that's
something we might look at to add as a feature to that
particular app. It is something we just developed and released
about 6 or 8 months ago.
That is relatively new, and that is the way of the future,
you're right. So from a technology perspective, we'd be
interested in looking at that.
Mr. Roe. I will meet you or I will have my staff meet with
you afterwards. Just, I am going to run through, I do not have
a lot of time left but you mentioned NCMEC approaches each case
of a missing child on an individual basis. Can you kind of walk
us through the steps of how that works?
Mr. Clark. Sure. When a child is reported missing to us,
it's very critical that we get the information and word out
into the hands of the law enforcement community quickly, if it
hasn't already been done so. In certain cases, that is the
case.
So once that happens, we use a variety of social media,
digital media capabilities to get that information in the area
where the child is missing.
So, for example, if a child is missing in Tennessee or
somewhere locally, it may not make sense to have that
information broadcast to Oregon. So, we're able to geo-fence
that information, work quickly with the local media outlets to
get them to get that information out. We have even worked with
other law enforcement organizations to get that onto digital
billboards and the like. So, getting the information out
quickly is vital.
If there's any data analytics or case analytics, we have
the analysts on board that can work with that as well, to make
sure that particular case is given as much priority and
attention as there can be.
Mr. Roe. You do not have time to answer this, but maybe at
some point in time you can. My time has expired. What are your
biggest needs that we could help you with? I will leave you
with that thought.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Dr. Roe. Mr. Courtney, you are
recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Courtney. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman and thank you,
Mr. Clark, for being here today. This is an issue where, again,
I think you are going to have strong support from both sides of
the aisle to make sure reauthorization moves forward in a
timely fashion.
I want to thank the Center for its work with my office and
Congressman Erik Paulsen from Minnesota. Last year, we finally
passed the Recovering Missing Children's Act, Public Law 184,
that President Obama signed into law on June 30.
Again, this was to address a problem that was actually kind
of stunning in trying to get your head around it: the New York
Times with the help of the Center published a report back in
2010 that the Treasury Department was actually aware of the
location of missing kids because of abducting adults having the
gall to claim an exemption on their tax returns, but,
unfortunately, the privacy provisions of the IRS Code prevented
the IRS from sharing that information from investigating law
enforcement.
Again, it took 5 years for us to get this measure through,
but, as I said, it has now opened up a pathway, so that law
enforcement can apply for a waiver from the IRS privacy
provisions to again investigate tax returns to see if a child--
to locate a child because of the fact that data is sitting
right there in the government's lap. And again, the Center was
very instrumental in terms of helping us make that case over
that time period.
The question I wanted to ask, so it was June 30 it was
signed into law, we have done some follow-up with the Justice
Department and the IRS about, again, this tool is out there,
making sure that, again, police departments, State and local,
are aware of the fact that is there.
And frankly, there has not been a lot of movement in terms
of broadcasting it that we, at least certainly, have picked up.
I do not know if you have anything you can shed light on or at
least we can work together to again making sure this hard
fought, you know, measure, which, again, the estimate is it is
a couple thousand kids that have exemptions claimed by
abducting adults based on the Treasury analysis that was done a
number of years ago.
Mr. Clark. Well, that law certainly makes sense to me, and
I applaud the efforts to be able to look at some issue like
that and be able to make some headway with it. I'm not deeply
informed on where that particular issue stands at the moment.
At the National Center, we sort of embrace the mindset that
any tool or technique or capability that we can use to help
find missing children, we should do it. That's in conjunction,
of course, with all the legal remedies we can find and public
policy issues we can employ.
And so, that particular example, I think, is a good one,
but I'm not deeply informed on where it currently stands.
Mr. Courtney. Thank you, again. Hopefully, we can follow up
after today. Again, it is kind of amazing that one arm of the
government is aware of the location of a missing child and
cannot share it with other arms of the government that are
investigating it, so that was the whole point of this measure,
is to create a bridge, so that flow of information can occur.
So, thank you for being here today. I look forward to
working with you on that.
Mr. Clark. Would love to work on that.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Mr. Courtney. Mr. Walberg, you
are recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Walberg. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman and thank you, Mr.
Clark, for being here, and as my colleagues have stated, and I
echo it again, thanks for the work you do. It is work that many
people could not do, and would not choose to do. Not because
they do not care, but I am sure each day you are challenged
with the stories that you hear, and frustrated at times with
the things that stand in your way.
In your testimony, you stated that more can be done to
combat child sex trafficking, and I agree. That is why in the
2013 Missing Children's Assistance Act reauthorization, I
authored a provision to provide technical assistance to law
enforcement and first responders in identifying, locating, and
recovering victims of child sex trafficking.
Could you, for us today, provide specific examples of the
type of technical assistance NCMEC has provided in compliance
with this provision to those first responders and law
enforcement authorities?
Mr. Clark. Sure and that's a wonderful question. At the
Center, we have a whole section we refer to as our Case
Analysis Division. They work very closely to help law
enforcement and enable them to find missing or exploited
children.
In a recent case, for example, in fact, I believe it was
part of my initial oral testimony, we were working with the FBI
on something called ``Operation Cross Country,'' recovered
numerous child sex trafficking victims. That was in direct
relationship to a lot of work done at the National Center to be
able to help locate, and help the law enforcement sources
locate these individuals who are being trafficked.
So that is part of, I think, a broader technical assistance
that we are providing out there to the community. Additionally,
we have done a lot more with our digital social media
capabilities, to be able to let jurisdictions know,
particularly in long-term missing cases or where there is
exploitation, what can be done to combat it.
So, we're very proud of the work our folks are doing.
Mr. Walberg. Could you explain further how maintaining the
public-private partnership model of NCMEC is vital to expanding
and continuing the work that you do?
Mr. Clark. I believe the way of the future is a public-
private partnership in all forms of industry. At the National
Center, we're very proud of our record of working across the
lines with numerous industry partners. We have a lot of our
technology giants who work closely with us, organizations like
Google and Intel, or Microsoft.
Then on the State and local level, we work very closely
with the National Association of Attorney Generals, the
National District Attorneys Association, law enforcement
organizations of all types.
Many of us and some on my staff that are with me today are
here on the Hill regularly looking at various public policy
issues and how we can join together to strengthen existing laws
or consider new ones.
All this is a public-private partnership, and it's
critical, I'd say, to our success. We can't go this alone. This
is not a single-hand fight. This is an all-hands fight.
Everybody who can bring something to bear to this problem
should.
Mr. Walberg. Do you truly feel that entities like Google,
Microsoft, heavily connected with the social media through the
Internet and all of the rest, and some of the trolling places
that go on there and the like, do they really get their part
from both aspects in this issue?
Mr. Clark. They do. In fact, a lot of the spike in the
number of the CyberTipline reports we have seen in recent years
is a direct correlation through the awareness and the reporting
done through our electronic service providers, organizations
that have something to do with the world wide web, so we have
strong partnerships there.
Mr. Walberg. Okay. We would certainly hope that continues
and expands. That is a crucial area that impacts the
trafficking in great ways.
Mr. Clark. Absolutely is.
Mr. Walberg. Thank you. I yield back.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you very much, Mr. Walberg. Mr.
Sablan, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Sablan. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank you for
having this hearing. Mr. Clark, I have nothing to contribute. I
am here to show my support for program you are doing with your
organization. Obviously, not everything you do can be made
applicable in the Northern Mariana's, but we do not have long
highways and things but I am aware we do have these two child
who were lost years ago on their way to school, and have not
been located. I do not know them still missing or something
worse.
I am here to show support, and to also urge the committee
and this Congress to authorize the program or at least where it
is possibility.
Madam Chair, thank you very much for holding today's
hearing and I yield back.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you very much. Mr. Mitchell, you are
recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Mitchell. Thank you, Madam Chairman. You referenced in
your testimony as previous question that a significant
component of missing children are children in foster care. Do
you have any data or anecdotal information on what--it is great
to try to find the children, but what causes more often than
not foster children to end up running away, which is often the
case? Can you share some insights on that?
Mr. Clark. Well, only through some of the individuals that
work closely with the Center, who are more--have level of
expertise far beyond what I do--but we often find that there's
elements of what might be commonly referred to as ``a broken
home,'' children who might be vulnerable.
There's also a group of young adults, young teens, who, for
a variety of reasons, get into situations of substance abuse or
other situations that might pull them from a home element that
puts them into a vulnerable place. They end up in some type of
an alternate care or foster care type situation where they
become very vulnerable to traffickers and/or organized crime
members. So, we work very closely with those types and groups
of individuals who come in contact with them.
Mr. Mitchell. You work-- do you work with the State
agencies and some of those in terms of training and services to
try to help them identify and prevent that? What services -what
do you undertake to do that?
Mr. Clark. Our training center operates training classes, I
would say almost on a weekly basis. Since inception, we've
trained about 330,000 individuals, some in law enforcement,
some from organizations that would address this very issue of
vulnerable youth at foster care type situations.
So, that's an effort that we try to pay particular
attention to and pour a lot of training resources into as a way
to help educate and inform that part of the population.
Mr. Mitchell. Thank you. You also noted and we are aware
that children with autism and other special needs are
particularly at-risk, particularly at-risk, in fact, of
significantly bad outcomes. You folks have undertaken a variety
of services for training law enforcement. Can you outline a
couple of those, whether there are enough resources to meet the
need in your opinion?
Mr. Clark. We have been working very closely with
organizations like Autism Speaks, I think probably a national
leader on that. Now, we have a whole new protocol and training
that we use to help law enforcement organizations, particularly
when a child goes missing who has autism. We have what I would
refer to as ``subject matter experts,'' who advise that local
jurisdiction on how to search, where to search, what types of
resources are available. That's all free of charge from the
National Center.
Sadly, we find cases where the outcome is not what we hoped
it would be, but we have been partnering now with a lot of the
groups that are involved in autism and how we can help when a
child goes missing.
Mr. Mitchell. Do you have enough resources putting in that
to effectively disseminate that to law enforcement across the
country at this point?
Mr. Clark. Well, we could always use more help for that,
for sure. I'm always hesitant to come to Congress asking for
more, but there are times when we are spread thin.
Organizationally, if you look at our workload measures compared
to our employee population base today, the workload measures
are going up, our employee population base is relatively
stagnant.
Mr. Mitchell. One last question, if I could hop back. Dr.
Roe asked, and you did not have time, what the biggest need was
you face. Could you-I will take the time to see if we can get
an answer to his question-could you help us with that?
Mr. Clark. Sure can, yeah. We always want to, I think, pour
more resources into the technology capabilities that we can use
at the Center, especially when it comes to combatting the
issues of child exploitation. It's been our biggest area of
growth, and that is in terms of crimes and situations that are
happening.
The individuals who are working day and night to try to
find these at-risk people or people that are being victimized,
pour a lot of time and effort into that, so funding and
resources for that, I think, would be vital to us as part of
our growth in the future.
Mr. Mitchell. Thank you very much, and I will yield back.
Thank you.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Mr. Mitchell. Mr. Takano, you
are recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Takano. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Clark, as you know,
the Trafficking Victims Protection Act does focus on sex
trafficking, but it also, I think, made mention of labor
trafficking as well. Is there any mechanism in place to
identify and ensure appropriate services that are provided to
youth labor trafficking victims?
Mr. Clark. Well, the primary focus of our work at the
Center involves child sexual exploitation. From time to time,
we are made aware of or come across cases that do involve a
child labor issue, and we work very closely with law
enforcement on those particular issues and making sure it's
addressed.
Although I don't have any particular data that is at my
disposal that I could share with you on that, but when we do
run across it, we do handle it.
Mr. Takano. Well, perhaps, is there data available? What I
am aware of is that child welfare agencies are required to
identify and document sex trafficking but not labor
trafficking. And I think that is kind of a critical gap in
screening and services, don't you think?
Mr. Clark. It would be, and Congressman, what I'd probably
have to do is get back to you on that in terms of what the data
would show. I'm not deeply informed on what that particular
metric is.
Mr. Takano. Yeah, I do salute the work that you are doing
on sex trafficking, but I think we ought to maybe also not take
our foot off the pedal on the work that you are focused on, but
also at the same time I think expand the scope to also include
labor trafficking.
Can you tell me what services, outreach, and support, is
being provided to prevent the trafficking of LGBTQ youth or to
respond to their specific needs, what barriers are you
encountering in meeting their needs?
Mr. Clark. I'm not aware of any barriers or particular
issues or problems that we have seen at the Center,
particularly with our call center, both that handles the calls
that are coming in from the public as well as our CyberTipline,
that points to any dysfunction, and what we do, we tend to
treat every case, every call, every parent, every person who
calls in on equal footing, and do our best to help resolve
their particular situation, but I'm not aware of any particular
concerns or problems from the National Center's point of view.
Mr. Takano. Is there any particular outreach because this
target group, you know, in order to really be effective in
preventing trafficking among members of this group, you might
need to look at special efforts to try to reach them.
Mr. Clark. We will certainly do that. I know that our
training materials, education awareness materials, are broadly
disseminated. I don't know if that's maybe part of what might,
you might also seeking from me. But as I mentioned, I think, to
one of the other questions, we work quite sufficiently in
trying to train, educate, and inform all cross sections of our
vulnerable youth on how to protect themselves.
Mr. Takano. What is the relationship between juvenile
status offenses and trafficking? How can juvenile offenses be
handled in a manner that does not increase youth vulnerability
to trafficking? For example, alternatives to arrest and
incarceration?
Mr. Clark. I'm not deeply informed in that particular
topic, Congressman, only because most of our work as it relates
to vulnerable youth is directed really in the area of sex
trafficking, child sex trafficking, online enticement.
I'm certain, though, at least I would believe there would
be a correlation between those arrested and other juvenile-type
crimes or circumstances that could relate to them being put
into a certain area of vulnerability, much as we talked about
with some of the endangered runaways or others who tend to end
up in the criminal justice system more often.
Mr. Takano. Well, so, juvenile status offenses in
particular that relate to arrests and incarceration, there may
be some relationship; we ought to investigate. My time is
running out and I yield back, Madam Chair.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Mr. Takano. Mr. Garrett, you
are recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Garrett. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I want to thank
Mr. Clark for being here today, and tell him that I think it
was 11 years ago when I first began working with NCMEC, and I
will offer a little bit of introduction by way of essentially
an offer to help where I may here.
I started as an attorney in the Computer Crimes Unit of the
Virginia Office of the Attorney General, primarily working on
CP, and in so doing, getting to know the folks at NCMEC very
well.
Ultimately, became a local prosecutor, and started an ICAC
Unit that was subordinate to Sheriff Mike Brown and Detective
Mike Harmony, who I am sure you know. By the way, I have been
texting a couple of those guys. They told me to ask you how
Ernie Allen is doing.
Mr. Clark. Yes.
Mr. Garrett. Go ahead. They did not say ask rhetorically
how Ernie is doing. What's Ernie up to these days?
Mr. Clark. Yes, I would just say we encounter Ernie quite a
bit, and he's doing quite well.
Mr. Garrett. So, all this is by way of simply suggesting
that, number one, the kudos and thanks you have gotten are all
well-earned. I want to add my personal experience to this in
thanking you.
When we charged and arrested and convicted Joseph Okoh or
Daniel Shelton or Michael Robinson, we never knew how many kids
we saved because you do not stop this predation, whether it is
CP or physical exploitation or sex trafficking. The thing that
we learned and that NCMEC has been an advocate for teaching is
that you do not wake up in the morning and think preying on a
child is a good idea on Tuesday and not wake up feeling the
same way on Wednesday. Something is just wrongly wired. So, you
cannot ever quantify the good you do, and I think that needs to
be noted.
Having said that, there was an obscure ruling by an obscure
judge named Gorsuch--I think you know where I am going with
this--in the Tenth Circuit last year, I think in August. It was
U.S. v. Ackerman, where they ruled that NCMEC, for the purposes
of the Fourth Amendment circumstances, was a government actor,
and essentially good data that was received through
collaboration with a major Internet service provider would be
thrown out because you all did not have a warrant as a
government actor. With your experience as a marshal amongst
other things, you understand the Fourth Amendment well.
Is there anything being done by way of a workaround, would
it be prudent to segregate the Tipline from the remainder of
NCMEC, or is it simply a paperwork burden that we need to meet
in order to respect people's constitutional rights? And I am a
big advocate for the Fourth Amendment as well, but what is the
procedural change that has been implemented in light of
Gorsuch's ruling in Ackerman that will allow us to continue to
save these kids and get the convictions on the back end?
Mr. Clark. Sure. The Ackerman decision required us to take
a look at some of our internal practices and policies. We've
had to adjust some of that now, just in recent times, for
example, making sure some of the law enforcement heads who had
been previously on our board of directors are not on our board
of directors, making proper separation of that.
We're also looking at internal space needs, to make sure
that there is truly separation of duties and responsibilities
from the law enforcement components who have a work engagement
with us, so that's another area we're working very closely on.
And then addressing any of the other legal issues that
might spill out of the Ackerman decision that we think could be
helpful to us maintaining our independence, which we strive
very, very much to do.
I would like to say on behalf of the Center that we're an
organization that likes to drive in the center of the road. We
try our darndest to comply with all legal issues and make sure
we are in full compliance.
Mr. Garrett. So has there been a subsequent case to test
your protocol changes as it relates to procedures post
Ackerman? You understand where I am going with this?
Mr. Clark. Sure.
Mr. Garrett. You guys did good stuff as a private entity,
the courts ruled you were a government actor, that brings into
requirements, obviously, a lot of Fourth Amendment scrutiny,
and you have told me you have changed your TTPs: your tactics,
techniques, and procedures. Have we had a subsequent test? Do
you feel good about where we are, that the information you
might receive from the Tipline would be actionable without
jeopardizing a conviction?
Mr. Clark. Sure. And in fact, a few of the things--
adjustments we made on the CyberTipline were done even prior to
the final outcome of the Ackerman decision, but there have been
subsequent cases that have been filed that have been, I guess,
similar in nature. I don't know exactly how many, but I'd say a
few, as is usually the custom when a case like this comes out.
I can't say that any of them particularly tested our
changes or our protocols yet, but I would imagine, in fact, a
lot of the reason why we're trying to make some of these
adjustments is to make sure we maintain that proper
independence as it relates to the work we do.
Mr. Garrett. I thank you immensely for what you do and for
your time, and I would yield back.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Mr. Garrett. Ms. Adams, you are
recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Adams. Thank you, Chairwoman Foxx and Vice Ranking
Member Bonamici, for bringing us together to discuss this
important topic. Mr. Clark, I want to thank you for sharing
some of the work that NCMEC does.
One of the greatest responsibilities of adults in our
society is to look out for the health and safety of our
children within our communities. As a parent, grandparent,
concerned member of my community, I am greatly disturbed by the
frequency of children who go missing, are exploited, or
victimized, and I am appreciative of the work that you are
doing.
In your testimony, you acknowledge that children with
special needs go missing at high rates. Are there other
demographics of children that are disproportionately reported
missing or fall victim to exploitation or violence?
Mr. Clark. I don't believe there is any other demographic
that might address your particular question. You know, we kind
of look at the groups that are vulnerable, and we know as we
refer to them, endangered runaways, are particularly
vulnerable.
Thankfully, the other categories of individuals who have
disappeared or run away, such as those that are involved in a
family abduction or a nonfamily abduction, we're seeing a fair
amount of those types of cases. The family abduction situation
is one that also or could be somewhat troubling, depending on a
parent, where they are going, where they're fleeing to,
especially if they travel internationally.
Ms. Adams. Okay. In D.C., over the last 2 weeks, social
media has been a buzz because between 8 to 10 young black and
Latino youth went missing, over the course of less than 2
weeks, with very little media attention.
Have you noticed which cases of missing children become
visible and which cases do not? And what does NCMEC do to
provide those less visible disappearances with resources and
support, and what resources and support do you have available
for making those more visible?
Mr. Clark. We constantly make a plea to law enforcement
that we are available to help them with resources, and we have
a whole organization that we call ``Team Adam.'' It is free of
charge, ready to be deployed in any situation where there is a
missing child, but we only are involved in those cases which we
know about.
Now, simultaneously with this hearing, I think the
Washington, D.C. Police Department is hosting a press
conference. Some of our staff from the National Center have
been invited to attend, and we are sending some people there.
So, the awareness part is critical. We tell law enforcement
quite frequently the resources that we can deploy and bring to
bear are quite formidable, and they are for the most part free
of charge. So, again, we are there at their disposal to help.
I'm not sure which among those cases referred to from
Washington, D.C., may have been ``intake,'' as we call it, into
our system, so that would be something worth noting.
Ms. Adams. Let me ask you a question about, because you
mentioned the rise in sextortion, and with the wide spread of
social media and digital platforms, it is not hard to imagine
this is a growing problem, so what are some of the best
practices that NCMEC has found while investigating this issue?
Mr. Clark. Education and awareness is a key critical thing.
We worked in conjunction with the Department of Justice over
the last year to produce a public service announcement on this
whole topic of sextortion.
We've shared that particular training module with many,
many law enforcement organizations, the National Association of
Attorney Generals, the National District Attorneys Association,
other child advocate groups.
The more parents become aware of this issue, the more
children become aware of the issue, I think it helps as a
prevention tool.
So, we've done significant work to educate and inform the
public of this particular new issue that has popped up on child
exploitation.
Ms. Adams. Thank you. I am about out of time. Madam Chair,
I yield back.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Ms. Adams. Ms. Stefanik, you
are recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Stefanik. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, Mr.
Clark, for your testimony today. I want to follow up on Ms.
Adams' line of questioning. In your testimony, as she stated,
you mentioned the disturbing emerging trend of sextortion,
including a 150 percent increase in reports of sextortion since
2014.
My question is two parts. Other than the increase, what are
additional factors that led to the Center to label this as an
emerging trend? And my second question is, you talked about
some of the additional steps NCMEC has taken through family
support services and working with law enforcement, have you
engaged schools and school districts on this important issue?
Mr. Clark. Sure. If I may start with the last question you
asked first? We are working closely now with private sector
partners to try to get some of our training and education
materials in all schools. We would love all school
organizations to be able to bring our NetSmartz and KidSmartz
programs into the school systems to educate particularly the
vulnerable groups of youth as they enter their teenage years,
which it seems to be the time when the sextortion issue starts
to happen.
Now, with the prevalence of super computers that everybody
carries on their hip called an iPhone or, you know, that type
of technology, it has become increasingly, and I think that is
where it is an emerging trend or a vulnerability, increasingly
easier for youth to get trapped in or involved in issues of
sextortion.
Those who purvey that crime know that, and they are able
to, I think, capitalize on the various apps that are out there,
the various ways and means and tricks to get young children to
engage in something of a sextortion.
Ms. Stefanik. Two sort of factual questions that I have.
Given the emerging trend, can you quantify what percentage of
cases of sextortion where the victim is a girl versus whether
it is a female or male? What is the breakdown?
Mr. Clark. I don't have the finite breakdown exactly, but
we do see more of a prevalence with young girls. However, we've
also seen an increase probably in the last 2 to 3 years of that
involving also young boys, so the majority of the cases involve
young women, but there is an increase in cases involving young
men, young boys.
Ms. Stefanik. And my second sort of factual follow-up
question is how do you intend to measure the effectiveness of
these outreach programs to law enforcement, to district
attorneys 2 years from now when we are asking this question?
How are you going to measure whether NCMEC's efforts have been
effective at raising awareness and tackling this issue?
Mr. Clark. Well, as the new CEO for the organization, I've
noticed that perhaps one deficiency we've had in recent years
is not doing a lot of good analytics on what we're seeing in
metrics.
We see emerging trends and some things that are part of the
datasets that come in from a variety of our cases, and things
we can easily measure, but it's important to me to be able to
measure and perhaps deploy our resources into areas where we
see there's an increased need.
So, I believe we're doing that now. We're getting some help
from some of our technology partners to be able to do that, to
look at big data analytics, predictive analytics, to be able to
see where emerging trends are going to happen, and how we can
put resources there to help combat it.
So, I would say at our next iteration or hearing, we should
be able to point to more success in that area.
Ms. Stefanik. Thank you, Mr. Clark. I yield back, Madam
Chair.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Ms. Stefanik. Mr. Allen, you
are recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Allen. Thank you, Chairwoman, and thank you, Mr. Clark,
for being with us today and tackling this. Looks like this
problem is becoming more of a problem rather than less of a
problem, which is troubling, and although we know that in our
society today, evil exists.
And I guess my question is this, and it stems off what the
Congressman--Congresswoman Stefanik was talking about is, what
are the tools we need to fix this, to curb this, to--? Is there
some way we could start on our education system, is there
something from the standpoint of the culture, from--?
I mean, what exactly, how do we put our finger on this
thing and just tell people just how bad and wrong this is? I
know, do we increase penalties, do we--? You know, are you
studying ways that we can stop this terrible thing?
Mr. Clark. Sure. We are always looking at ways we can stop
it, but I think some of the increase and some of the concerns
that we see with the capabilities of technology today, where we
truly are a world without borders, vulnerability of children is
spreading essentially worldwide. In fact, a great majority of
our CyberTip reports have an international connection, so, you
see the whole world is affected by the situation of child
exploitation.
Education and awareness from the parents' level, I think,
is very, very key. The more informed and educated a parent is
about what their children are doing, who they are with, what is
on their iPhones, what app they have, and who they are
communicating with, there is a level of vulnerability there
that many parents may recognize, but not actually take action
to do.
Now, how do you get parents to do that? I'm not in every
house in America to be able to tell them what to do but, I
believe that, sometimes I tell parents ``it's okay to be a
little paranoid and ask questions about what your children are
doing,'' and that's just a fact of the matter. So, a number of
things like that are what are contributing to this.
Mr. Allen. Are we getting the word out about how serious
this problem is? I mean, a lot of parents, I mean, really do
not hear, you do not hear a lot about this on the media or
other sources. How do we get that message out so that parents
do what is right as far as the warning their children about
these predators that exist out there?
Mr. Clark. Congressman, I think one area where we are
trying to do more of is we have a program called NetSmartz411
that is primarily aimed at the parents. We would love to be
able to get that out in more available formats, make it
available, easily available. It's part of a training curriculum
we're trying to do with our new website, which we are in the
process of overhauling.
Being able to put those tools in every home in America, so
that parents can have a resource to know what to do. I've ran
into many, many parents who, for a variety of reasons, maybe
they're just not technology savvy, aren't quite sure how to
keep an eye on things or watch what's going on with their
youngsters.
Mr. Allen. Well, obviously, young people are notoriously
curious, which is not a bad thing, but at the same time when
you have evil lurking like this out there, you have to deal
with it. So, just let us know whatever we can do to curb this
and it would really be great if we could put a stop to this
cause it is tragic.
Mr. Clark. Fantastic, yes.
Mr. Allen. Thank you, sir. I yield back.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Mr. Allen. Mr. Clark, I will
yield to myself now 5 minutes. We very much appreciate your
testimony today, and the great work that the Center is doing.
You have mentioned shifting resources into electronic cyber
security and those kinds of areas, which certainly makes sense
but could you provide us some examples of how program
evaluation has led to shifting resources to change the way you
are operating? Because we are very much concerned about
accountability and what is being done to evaluate at every
level and every program that we fund.
Mr. Clark. Certainly and that is testimony to the committee
in making sure not only that you are appropriating money
wisely, but also supporting the great work we're doing.
One of the things I've been doing as CEO is examining all
areas of our operations, particularly with an eye toward
putting the financial resources and the employee resources
where they're most needed, and because of the circumstances, as
we have talked about a lot in this hearing, involving child
exploitation, that is a key area where we want to see some much
needed resource growth.
On the missing children side as well, we continue to see a
number of vulnerabilities there. I think when you look back on
the recent years, last few years, we continue to see a lot of
efforts poured into the long-term missing cases, a topic that's
not often talked about too much. But there is, sadly, many
cases in the country still, long-term missing cases, where the
effort to continue to look for them has not been as vibrant as
it should be.
At the National Center, however, we pride ourselves in
never closing a case, and making sure we are directing those
resources there to help find long-term missing children.
In a recent case, as you may have heard in the news,
involving a young boy named Jacob Wetterling--his mother serves
on our board--sadly, after 27 years, he was found deceased, had
been murdered, and had been sexually assaulted.
That particular case reminds us all of the importance of
deploying our resources and spending the money wisely.
I want to be able to give an account for every penny and
every dollar that we're spending and where it's going, both to
the Congress, members of Congress, and our private partners as
well.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you. I would like to know also how
you are working with the various partner organizations, but
mainly the States, to improve what the States are doing, both
to prevent children from becoming missing and to help find
missing children because this is an not area where the Federal
Government is going to be able to solve the problem. This has
got to be solved at the local and State level, so please tell
us what is happening through the partner organizations and
perhaps, if you cannot answer everything, give us some examples
of States that are doing a better job than others. You can put
that in writing later, if you need to.
Mr. Clark. Certainly. There is much of our effort to do on
the prevention side as well as training and educating law
enforcement. Barely a week goes by that we don't have law
enforcement organizations from State organizations, county
sheriffs, all coming to the National Center to receive training
and insight on how to not only look for missing children, but
to solve the issue of exploitation.
We also have long-term missing child case studies that go
on pretty much on a monthly basis. Every month, we have at
least one of those cases that we do, and we bring in all the
law enforcement organizations that have some particular touch
in that case, and we review every single lead to see if we can
revitalize that.
A third example is something being done in the State of
Texas, where they have developed a particular interdiction
program where they are now looking for exploited children or
even missing children when they make vehicle stops with the
State Police.
We have helped with some of that training, and continue to
want to help with that training because now we've seen some
actual child sex trafficking victims rescued by this particular
program. That training is now spreading to other States. There
is a pretty significant call for that training to be done. In
fact, I believe it's going to be done in the State of Oregon
very, very soon as well.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you very much. Mr. Thompson, you are
recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Thompson. Madam Chairwoman, thank you. Thank you so
much for hosting this, and my apologies for getting here late,
but I wanted to come and just first of all thank you, Mr.
Clark, for your leadership with this. The Center does such
great work.
This past year, I had the privilege and opportunity to
spend some time on just one of the days of the 2016 10th
Anniversary Fireball Run. And these amazing teams that come
together, spend a lot of resources for 8 days, 2,000 miles,
each one of them essentially adopt one of these children that
are listed as missing, distributing thousands of flyers in all
the communities where they go.
I think last I looked, this annual event was credited with
recovering 44 children, which is very much appreciated. It is
just a righteous volunteer effort that goes on.
So, I want to thank you for your leadership and service,
and just your commitment to recover and protect missing and
exploited children.
Just a quick question. Can you talk about the Child Victim
Identification Program and how does it operate and what impact
has it had and why is it so important?
Mr. Clark. That's one of our more vital and critical
programs. The Child Victim Identification Program has a bunch
of our employees that have somewhat of what I would say is a
terrible duty, a horrible duty, of looking at all the images,
the videos, all the garbage, I might say, that comes in
involving exploited children, sexually abused children.
What they look for is particular clues in those images that
might help identify where in the world that particular child
is. So, they go about that duty, a terrible duty, with a great
deal of expertise, and I'm pleased to report that they have
made numerous child recoveries by examining videos and
pictures, and being able to try to spot clues in those pictures
and get that in the hands of law enforcement.
I would say not a week goes by that I don't get information
on a case or a situation where they have done that particular
good work, but it is very, very difficult work.
Mr. Thompson. Well, thank you again to you and your staff.
I cannot imagine how difficult that would be to have that,
important as it is, to be able to have to review those images
in terms of their investigation work but I--you know, the
recovery of one child is so important it is done, just
appreciate you and your staff taking that on.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and I yield back the balance of my
time.
Mr. Clark. There are, If I may, there are earthly angels
among us. And--
Mr. Thompson. Sure.
Mr. Clark. That is part of the group that's there.
Mr. Thompson. Yeah, thank you.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you. I want to say thank you, again,
to Mr. Clark for taking the time to testify before the
committee today and I want to recognize Ms. Bonamici for her
closing remarks.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you very much, Madam Chairwoman, and
briefly, again, thank you so much, Mr. Clark, for your
important work, and Chair Foxx, for holding this hearing. It is
refreshingly bipartisan when we can come together and all agree
that we need to work on this important issue.
Just a follow-up on Mr. Garrett's comment about the
independence. I know there is bipartisan support for making
sure that we can, as Mr. Garrett said, protect people's Fourth
Amendment rights, but still maintain the independence of the
Center, so I wanted to mention that.
And I did notice that a significant majority of the missing
children fall within that endangered runaway category, so I
know we have a lot of potential on this committee to address
the root causes that go into that, why do children run away
from home, and our work on the Every Student Succeeds Act, for
example, with the school safety provisions, career and
technical education that provides engaging hands-on education.
We have a lot of potential to really address the needs of
our students, and I hope that we can work on making sure those
programs are funded and schools can have counselors and places
where students can go at school, and hopefully keep them
engaged and out of the dangerous situations where they are
targeted.
So, again, thank you so much, Chair Foxx and Mr. Clark for
this important hearing, and I yield back. Thank you.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you very much, Ms. Bonamici. And I
agree with Ms. Bonamici on the fact that this really is a
bipartisan issue. We are all concerned with protecting
children, especially the vulnerable children in our society.
And it is an issue that I think all levels of government
need to be concerned about, but we all know that the government
closest to the people is generally able to solve these
problems, so I am very interested in the work that the Center
does with local communities, the police forces, the State
governments, particularly when we see these staggering numbers
of children who run away from foster care.
And we know there are some bad situations with foster care,
but for the most part, the people who are willing to foster
children are there because they care and love the children, and
I admire them so much.
But my understanding from reading a long, long time ago in
child development is even children who are in bad situations at
home yearn to be with their families. And I think that is a
critical element here where we need to do more some way or
another to help dysfunctional families, and having worked with
facilities that worked with abused children, we know we cannot
just fix children, we have to fix families, and that is where
the problems lie but again, it is an issue that needs to be
solved at all the levels of our government.
So, I appreciate, again, what you and your staff do, and we
appreciate part of your staff at least being here with us
today, and I want to give them our appreciation, and as you
said, all of the people who work closely with you who are not
paid staff, but come in because they care about children in our
country and do everything they can and I think they are unsung
heroes, and all that we can do to acknowledge their work, we
should do.
So, thank you all very much. There being no further
business, the committee stands adjourned.
[Additional submission by Chairwoman Foxx follows:]
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[Additional submission by Mr. Scott follows:]
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[Questions submitted for the record and their responses
follow:]
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[Whereupon, at 11:22 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]