I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7919 

To direct the Attorney General to convene a national working group to 

study proactive strategies and needed resources for the rescue of children 

from sexual exploitation and abuse, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 31, 2020 

Ms. SPANBERGER (for herself and Mr. CLINE) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To direct the Attorney General to convene a national working 

group to study proactive strategies and needed resources 

for the rescue of children from sexual exploitation and 

abuse, 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 ‘‘National Response to 

5 Exploitation and Sexual Abuse of Children in Unad6 dressed Emergencies Act’’ or the ‘‘Child RESCUE Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The growing international trade in child 

2 abuse imagery creates demand and incentive for the 

3 sexual assault of children throughout the United 

4 States. 

5 (2) United States law enforcement efforts to 

6 combat child sexual exploitation have the potential 

7 to help multiple distinct groups of victims, including 

8 children depicted in the imagery itself who are still 

9 being assaulted; children and adults whose past vic10 timization is being viewed and shared online; and 

11 children who are being sexually assaulted by adults 

12 who could be interdicted while accessing or sharing 

13 illegal imagery online. 

14 (3) In 2006, Congressional hearings of the 

15 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 

16 of Representatives, the Department of Justice, Fed17 eral Bureau of Investigation, and State law enforce18 ment leaders estimated that there are hundreds of 

19 thousands of adults in the United States engaging 

20 in child sexual abuse material crimes. 

21 (4) A growing body of research—including aca22 demic studies, analysis by the United States Sen23 tencing Commission, and findings by law enforce24 ment polygraphers—indicates that a majority of in25 dividuals possessing and sharing child sexual abuse 


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1 material are ‘‘dual offenders’’, who both possess ille2 gal imagery and also commit contact offenses. 

3 (5) According to the National Association to 

4 Protect Children, identifying dual offenders through 

5 proactive police investigations is one of the most ef6 fective strategies for child sexual abuse prevention 

7 available. By using technology-assisted policing 

8 strategies, law enforcement can follow the trail of il9 legal imagery to the locations of offenders who have 

10 a sexual interest in children, enabling the rescue of 

11 current victims and interrupting future assaults. 

12 (6) Despite this historic opportunity to locate 

13 child sexual predators and rescue children, United 

14 States law enforcement is increasingly unable to con15 duct proactive investigations aimed at finding the 

16 most dangerous predators. According to the Na17 tional Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 

18 leads from electronic service providers and the public 

19 grew exponentially over the past decade, from 

20 500,000 in 2008 to 18.4 million in 2018. This influx 

21 of reports has overwhelmed law enforcement agen22 cies and task forces, forcing them to limit proactive 

23 investigations. 

24 (7) While continued, rapid response to leads 

25 from electronic service providers and the public is 


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1 essential, increasing child rescues also requires 

2 United States law enforcement to increase and im3 prove its capacity to conduct victim-centric, proac4 tive investigations of suspects it believes have the 

5 highest likelihood of being contact offenders. 

6 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF WORKING GROUP. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

8 date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall 

9 establish a national working group, to be known as the 

10 U.S. Commission on Children in Imminent Danger, to 

11 study proactive policing strategies and resource needs to 

12 rescue children in the United States who are— 

13 (1) victims of child sexual abuse material; or 

14 (2) victims of sexual abuse by individuals who 

15 are also engaged in child sexual abuse material 

16 crimes. 

17 (b) PRIORITY.—In carrying out the study described 

18 in subsection (a), the U.S. Commission on Children in Im19 minent Danger shall give priority to investigative leads 

20 that indicate the possibility of identifying or rescuing child 

21 victims. 

22 SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE WORKING GROUP. 

23 In carrying out the study described in section 3, the 

24 working group shall— 


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1 (1) develop estimates of the total number of 

2 adults in the United States who are committing 

3 crimes involving the production, distribution, receipt, 

4 or possession of child sexual abuse material, includ5 ing the number of such individuals who— 

6 (A) could be interdicted by Federal, State, 

7 and local law enforcement if sufficient funding 

8 resources were available; and 

9 (B) are committing crimes involving sexual 

10 contact with children; 

11 (2) develop estimates of the total number of 

12 minor victims of child sexual abuse in the United 

13 States, disaggregated by age range, who— 

14 (A) could be located and protected from 

15 further abuse through the interdiction of indi16 viduals committing offenses described in para17 graph (1); or 

18 (B) are likely to become victims of contact 

19 sexual offenses by adults committing offenses 

20 described in paragraph (1), in the 10-year pe21 riod beginning on the date of enactment of this 

22 Act; 

23 (3) develop estimates and descriptions of the 

24 funding, resources, and proactive strategies nec25 essary for Federal, State, and local law enforcement 


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1 to successfully locate and protect minor victims de2 scribed in paragraph (2); and 

3 (4) provide additional analysis and nonduplica4 tive estimates of— 

5 (A) the number of adults who were ar6 rested by Federal, State, and local agencies 

7 during the 5-year period before the date of en8 actment of this Act, by year, for any of the of9 fenses described in paragraph (1); 

10 (B) the number of adults who were pros11 ecuted federally and in the States during the 5- 

12 year period before the date of enactment of this 

13 Act, by year, for any of the offenses described 

14 in paragraph (1); 

15 (C) the estimated number of unidentified 

16 victims depicted in child abuse imagery that is 

17 known to the National Center for Missing and 

18 Exploited Children; and 

19 (D) the number and percentage of of20 fenses, as described in paragraph (1) of this 

21 section, that are committed by adults in a posi22 tion of trust or authority, including analysis of 

23 potential proactive strategies that could be used 

24 by social service agencies and other child abuse 

25 investigators to detect both child exploitation 


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1 and contact sexual offenses by offenders de2 scribed in paragraph (1). 

3 SEC. 5. MEMBERS OF THE WORKING GROUP. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The working group shall be com5 posed of such representatives of Federal departments and 

6 agencies, non-Federal law enforcement agencies, and non7 governmental organizations as the Attorney General con8 siders appropriate. The Attorney General shall invite the 

9 following individuals to be members of the working group: 

10 (1) Three representatives from State or local 

11 grantees of the Internet Crimes Against Children 

12 task force program with extensive, direct experience 

13 conducting proactive, online undercover investiga14 tions, including use of specialized tools for peer-to15 peer investigations. 

16 (2) A representative of the Department of Jus17 tice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. 

18 (3) The Department of Justice’s National Coor19 dinator for Child Exploitation Prevention and Inter20 diction. 

21 (4) A representative of the Behavioral Analysis 

22 Unit of the United States Marshals Service or a des23 ignee. 


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1 (5) A Special Agent of the United States 

2 Homeland Security Investigations with expertise in 

3 proactive online investigations. 

4 (6) A representative of the Cyber Crimes Cen5 ter Victim Identification Lab of United States 

6 Homeland Security Investigations. 

7 (7) A Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of 

8 Investigation with expertise in proactive online inves9 tigations and the use of polygraphs in child sexual 

10 abuse material investigations. 

11 (8) A representative of the Innocent Images 

12 program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation with 

13 expertise in child victim identification. 

14 (9) A Special Agent of the United States Secret 

15 Service with expertise in investigations of child sex16 ual abuse material. 

17 (10) A Special Agent of the United States Post18 al Inspection Service with expertise in investigations 

19 of child sexual abuse material. 

20 (11) At the election of the head of the relevant 

21 entity— 

22 (A) a representative of the Internet Crimes 

23 Against Children and the Child Protection Sys24 tem at the National Criminal Justice Training 


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1 Center with subject matter expertise on child 

2 sexual exploitation and abuse investigations; 

3 (B) a representative of the Child Protec4 tion System (formerly Operation Fairplay) at 

5 the Child Rescue Coalition with subject matter 

6 expertise on child sexual exploitation and abuse 

7 investigations; 

8 (C) a representative of the National Asso9 ciation to Protect Children, with subject matter 

10 expertise on child sexual exploitation and abuse; 

11 (D) a representative of the National Cen12 ter for Missing and Exploited Children, with 

13 subject matter expertise on child sexual exploi14 tation and abuse; and 

15 (E) a representative of the Rape, Abuse & 

16 Incest National Network, with subject matter 

17 expertise on child sexual exploitation and abuse. 

18 (b) CONTINUATION OF MEMBERSHIP.—If a member 

19 of a working group was appointed based on membership 

20 in an agency or organization and the member ceases to 

21 be a member of such agency or organization, such member 

22 shall cease to be a member of the working group on the 

23 date on which the member ceases to be a member of such 

24 agency or organization. 


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1 (c) TERMS.—Each member should be appointed for 

2 the life of the working group. 

3 (d) VACANCY.—Any member appointed to fill a va4 cancy occurring before the expiration of the term for which 

5 the member’s predecessor was appointed shall be ap6 pointed only for the remainder of that term. A member 

7 may serve after the expiration of that member’s term until 

8 a successor has taken office. A vacancy in the working 

9 group shall be filled in the manner in which the original 

10 appointment was made. 

11 (e) COMPENSATION.—Members of the working group 

12 shall serve without pay. 

13 (f) QUORUM.—A simple majority of the members 

14 constitutes a quorum, but a lesser number may hold hear15 ings. 

16 (g) CHAIRPERSON.—The Chairperson of the working 

17 group shall be the director of the Child Exploitation and 

18 Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice. 

19 (h) MEETINGS.—The working group shall hold vir20 tual meetings monthly, and any subgroup of the working 

21 group shall hold additional meetings as necessary. 


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1 SEC. 6. STAFF OF WORKING GROUP; EXPERTS AND CON2 SULTANTS. 

3 (a) STAFF.—The Chairperson of the working group 

4 may appoint and fix the pay of additional personnel as 

5 the Chairperson considers appropriate. 

6 (b) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS.—The Chairperson 

7 may procure temporary and intermittent services under 

8 section 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code. 

9 (c) DETAILEES.—Upon request of the Chairperson, 

10 the head of any Federal department or agency may detail, 

11 on a reimbursable basis, any of the personnel of that de12 partment or agency to the working group to assist it in 

13 carrying out its duties under this Act. 

14 SEC. 7. POWERS OF WORKING GROUP. 

15 (a) HEARINGS AND SESSIONS.—The working group 

16 may, for the purpose of carrying out this Act, hold hear17 ings, sit and act at times and places, take testimony, and 

18 receive evidence as the working group considers appro19 priate. The working group may administer oaths or affir20 mations to witnesses appearing before it. 

21 (b) POWERS OF MEMBERS AND AGENTS.—Any mem22 ber or agent of the working group may, if authorized by 

23 the Chairperson, take any action which the working group 

24 is authorized to take by this section, including requesting 

25 information and data. 


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1 (c) OBTAINING OFFICIAL DATA.—The working group 

2 may secure directly from any department or agency of the 

3 United States information necessary to enable it to carry 

4 out this Act. Upon request of the Chairperson of the work5 ing group, the head of that department or agency shall 

6 furnish that information to the working group. 

7 (d) MAILS.—The working group may use the United 

8 States mails in the same manner and under the same con9 ditions as other departments and agencies of the United 

10 States. 

11 (e) ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT SERVICES.—Upon 

12 the request of the working group, the Administrator of 

13 General Services shall provide to the working group, on 

14 a reimbursable basis, the administrative support services 

15 necessary for the working group to carry out its respon16 sibilities under this Act. 

17 SEC. 8. REPORT. 

18 Not later than 210 days after the date of enactment 

19 of this Act, the working group shall submit to the Attorney 

20 General, the Committees on the Judiciary of the House 

21 of Representatives and the Senate, and the Committees 

22 on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the 

23 Senate, which shall contain a detailed statement of the 

24 findings and conclusions of the working group, together 

25 with its recommendations for legislation. 


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1 SEC. 9. TERMINATION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The working group shall termi3 nate 120 days after submission of the report under section 

4 8, unless the Attorney General determines that such ter5 mination is not appropriate. 

6 (b) RECONVENING GROUP.—In the case that the 

7 working group terminates under subsection (a), the Attor8 ney General may reconvene the working group in accord9 ance with this Act. 

10 SEC. 10. DEFINITIONS. 

11 In this Act: 

12 (1) CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE MATERIAL.—The 

13 term ‘‘child sexual abuse material’’ has the meaning 

14 given the term ‘‘child pornography’’ in section 2256 

15 of title 18, United States Code. 

16 (2) KNOWN TO LAW ENFORCEMENT.—The term 

17 ‘‘known to law enforcement’’ means a Federal, 

18 State, or local law enforcement agency has evidence 

19 of a crime that can be attributed to a person or loca20 tion, including an email address, internet protocol 

21 address, screen name, computer global unique identi22 fier, phone number, or other information attrib23 utable to that person or location. 

24 (3) PROACTIVE POLICING.—The term ‘‘proac25 tive policing’’ means specialized, covert, or under26 cover investigations conducted by law enforcement 


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1 involving people or organizations that law enforce2 ment authorities have a reasonable suspicion to be3 lieve are engaged in criminal activity. For purposes 

4 of this Act, such investigations involve cases de5 scribed under Federal child exploitation laws. 

Æ 


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