II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1517 

To enhance the Human Exploitation Rescue Operations Act of 2015, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 29, 2017 

Mr. HELLER (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. CORNYN, and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To enhance the Human Exploitation Rescue Operations Act 

of 2015, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘HERO Improvements 

5 Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. HERO ACT IMPROVEMENTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 890A of the Homeland 

8 Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 473) is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (a)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘Home2 land Security Investigations,’’ after ‘‘Enforce3 ment,’’; and 

4 (B) by amending paragraph (2) to read as 

5 follows: 

6 ‘‘(2) PURPOSE.—The Center shall provide in7 vestigative assistance, training, and equipment to 

8 support domestic and international investigations of 

9 cyber-related crimes by the Department.’’; and 

10 (2) in subsection (b)— 

11 (A) in paragraph (2)(C), by inserting after 

12 ‘‘personnel’’ the following: ‘‘, which shall in13 clude participating in training for Homeland 

14 Security Investigations personnel conducted by 

15 Internet Crimes Against Children Task 

16 Forces’’; and 

17 (B) in paragraph (3)— 

18 (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 

19 ‘‘in child exploitation investigations’’ after 

20 ‘‘Enforcement’’; 

21 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 

22 (I) in the matter preceding clause 

23 (i), by inserting ‘‘in child exploitation 

24 investigations’’ after ‘‘Enforcement’’; 

25 and 


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1 (II) in clause (i), by inserting 

2 ‘‘child’’ before ‘‘victims’’; 

3 (iii) in subparagraph (C), by inserting 

4 ‘‘child exploitation’’ after ‘‘number of’’; 

5 and 

6 (iv) in subparagraph (D), by inserting 

7 ‘‘child exploitation’’ after ‘‘number of’’; 

8 and 

9 (3) in subsection (c)(2)— 

10 (A) in subparagraph (A), in the matter 

11 preceding clause (i), by inserting ‘‘and admin12 ister the Digital Forensics and Document and 

13 Media Exploitation (DF/DOMEX) program’’ 

14 after ‘‘forensics’’; 

15 (B) in subparagraph (C), by inserting 

16 ‘‘and emerging technologies’’ after ‘‘forensics’’; 

17 and 

18 (C) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and 

19 the National Association to Protect Children’’ 

20 and inserting ‘‘, the National Association to 

21 Protect Children, and other governmental enti22 ties’’. 

23 (b) HERO CHILD-RESCUE CORPS.—Section 890A of 

24 the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 473) is 

25 amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub2 section (g); and 

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(e) HERO CHILD-RESCUE CORPS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—There is established 

8 within the Center a Human Exploitation Res9 cue Operation Child-Rescue Corps Program (re10 ferred to in this subsection as the ‘HERO 

11 Child-Rescue Corps Program’), which shall be a 

12 Department-wide program, operated in partner13 ship with the Department of Defense and the 

14 National Association to Protect Children. 

15 ‘‘(B) TRAINING REQUIREMENT.—As part 

16 of the HERO Child-Rescue Corps Program, the 

17 National Association to Protect Children shall 

18 provide logistical support for program partici19 pants. 

20 ‘‘(2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the HERO 

21 Child-Rescue Corps Program shall be to recruit, 

22 train, equip, and employ wounded, ill, and injured 

23 veterans and transitioning members of the military 

24 within the Department or other participating agen25 cies, in employment positions to assist in combating 


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1 and preventing child exploitation, including inves2 tigative, intelligence, analyst, inspection, and foren3 sic positions or any other positions determined ap4 propriate by the employing agency. 

5 ‘‘(3) FUNCTIONS.—The HERO Child-Rescue 

6 Program shall— 

7 ‘‘(A) provide, recruit, train, and equip par8 ticipants of the Program in the areas of digital 

9 forensics, investigation, analysis, intelligence, 

10 and victim identification, as determined by the 

11 Center and the needs of the Department; and 

12 ‘‘(B) ensure that during the 1-year period 

13 beginning on the date of enactment of this sub14 section, participants of the Program are as15 signed to investigate and analyze— 

16 ‘‘(i) child exploitation; 

17 ‘‘(ii) child pornography; 

18 ‘‘(iii) unidentified child victims; 

19 ‘‘(iv) human trafficking; 

20 ‘‘(v) traveling child sex offenders; and 

21 ‘‘(vi) forced child labor, including the 

22 sexual exploitation of minors. 

23 ‘‘(4) PAID INTERNSHIP AND HIRING PRO24 GRAM.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the avail2 ability of appropriations for such purpose, the 

3 Secretary may use funds available for Oper4 ations and support to establish a paid intern5 ship and hiring program for the purpose of 

6 placing participants of the HERO Child-Rescue 

7 Corps Program into paid internship positions, 

8 with the intent of subsequent appointment of 

9 the participants to permanent positions, as de10 scribed in subparagraph (C). 

11 ‘‘(B) INTERNSHIP POSITIONS.—Under the 

12 paid internship and hiring program required to 

13 be established under subparagraph (A), the 

14 Secretary may appoint not more than 72 indi15 viduals to internship positions in the Center per 

16 year— 

17 ‘‘(i) which shall be in addition to any 

18 internship or staffing positions within 

19 United States Immigration and Customs 

20 Enforcement in existence on the date en21 actment of this subsection; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) who shall be assigned or detailed 

23 by the Center in accordance with subpara24 graph (C). 

25 ‘‘(C) PLACEMENT.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—An individual who 

2 is appointed to an internship position 

3 under this paragraph shall be assigned or 

4 detailed to a position in an agency that— 

5 ‘‘(I) has expressed the need to fill 

6 a vacancy; 

7 ‘‘(II) anticipates making an ap8 pointment to a full-time position upon 

9 completion of the internship; and 

10 ‘‘(III) accepts the training pa11 rameters as determined by the Center 

12 to be the standard of the Department 

13 for the HERO Child-Rescue Corps 

14 Program. 

15 ‘‘(ii) PREFERENCE.—The Secretary 

16 shall give a preference to Homeland Secu17 rity Investigations in assignments or de18 tails under clause (i). 

19 ‘‘(D) TERM OF INTERNSHIP.—An appoint20 ment to an internship position under this para21 graph shall be for a term not to exceed 12 

22 months. 

23 ‘‘(E) RATE AND TERM OF PAY.—After 

24 completion of initial group training and upon 

25 beginning work at an assigned office, an indiVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:06 Jul 18, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1517.IS S1517

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1 vidual appointed to an internship position under 

2 this paragraph who is not receiving monthly 

3 basic pay as a member of the Armed Forces on 

4 active duty shall receive compensation at a rate 

5 that is— 

6 ‘‘(i) not less than the minimum rate 

7 of basic pay payable for a position at level 

8 GS–5 of the General Schedule; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) not more than the maximum rate 

10 of basic pay payable for a position at level 

11 GS–7 of the General Schedule. 

12 ‘‘(F) ELIGIBILITY.—In establishing the 

13 paid internship and hiring program required 

14 under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall en15 sure that the eligibility requirements for partici16 pation in the internship program are the same 

17 as the eligibility requirements for participation 

18 in the HERO Child-Rescue Corps Program. 

19 ‘‘(f) HERO CORPS HIRING.—Subject to the avail20 ability of appropriations for such purpose, there are au21 thorized to be established within Homeland Security In22 vestigations the following number of positions, which shall 

23 be in addition to any positions in existence on the date 

24 of enactment of this subsection, for the hiring and perma25 nent employment of graduates of the paid internship and 


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1 hiring program required to be established under sub2 section (e)(4): 

3 ‘‘(1) 36 positions in fiscal year 2017. 

4 ‘‘(2) 72 positions in fiscal year 2018. 

5 ‘‘(3) 108 positions in fiscal year 2019. 

6 ‘‘(4) 144 positions in fiscal year 2020. 

7 ‘‘(5) 180 positions in fiscal year 2021.’’. 

8 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

9 Section 302 of the HERO Act of 2015 (Public Law 114– 

10 22; 129 Stat. 255) is amended— 

11 (1) by striking subsection (c); and 

12 (2) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub13 section (c). 

Æ 


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