UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Federal Trade Commission

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20580

Office of Commissioner 

Rohit Chopra

1 

STATEMENT OF

COMMISSIONER ROHIT CHOPRA

Regarding Law Enforcement Authorizations to Protect Military Families 

Commission File No. P859900

September 14, 2021 

The Commission has voted 3-2 to authorize the use of civil investigative demands and subpoenas 

to investigate potentially unlawful practices targeting service members, veterans, and their 

families. The action will improve the agency’s ability to order documents and data in 

investigations and fills a notable gap in the Commission’s long list of enforcement authorizations 

developed over many years. 

Military-connected families are prime targets for bad actors, and many face financial distress due 

to unlawful practices. The Department of Defense has warned that financial distress is a 

contributing factor to loss of security clearances, involuntary separations, and reduction in 

overall readiness.

Congress has specifically authorized the Federal Trade Commission to discharge duties related to

military family consumer protection. Unfortunately, Commissioners have not taken any actions 

under some of these authorizations1

or developed a clear strategy to combat unlawful practices. 

In my view, the Commission should consider prioritizing three areas.

First, the Commission should investigate abuses targeting recipients of veteran’s education 

benefits. There is a long history of concerning practices when it comes to targeting military 

families by for-profit colleges.2

 In 1974, Congress enacted legislation outlining the FTC’s role to 

1 In 2013, Congress authorized the Federal Trade Commission to enforce the Military Lending Act. The agency has not yet 

brought any actions under this authority. 2 In the late 1960s, the passage of the Higher Education Act, combined with benefits for those returning from Vietnam, opened 

the floodgates to widespread fraud. In response, the FTC undertook a major industry-wide investigation, and began bringing 

lawsuits against for-profit colleges – filing more than two dozen from 1970 to 1974 alone. The Commission also introduced a 

Guide for Private Vocational and Home Study Schools, which detailed practices the FTC determined were unfair or deceptive. 

Finally, in 1976, the FTC published a landmark 552-page report laying out problems in the sector and proposing a new 

enforcement approach. The FTC’s report was remarkable both for its breadth and for the extent to which its findings echo across 

the decades. After an investigation that included 87 volumes of documents, 44 days of hearings, and testimony from more than 

400 witnesses, the Commission laid out in extensive detail some of the key problems in the sector. Among the illegal tactics the 

Commission found to be common were deceptive lead generation, false claims of affiliation with government or major 

employers, misrepresentations about transferability of credits, and “an appalling lack of substantiation for the job and earnings 

claims that are made.” The report criticized not only unscrupulous schools but also the efficacy of the FTC’s enforcement 

strategy. In particular, the report found that the industry was failing to comply with the Commission’s voluntary guides, and that 

“case-by-case adjudication was not achieving the requisite prophylactic effect.” See Fed. Trade Comm’n, Proprietary Vocational 

and Home Study Schools. Final Report to the Federal Trade Commission and Proposed Trade Regulation Rule (16 CFR Part 

438), (Dec. 10, 1976), https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED134790.pdf. As a result, the Commission turned to rulemaking, an 

effort it had begun in 1974, to establish industry-wide requirements backed by stiff civil penalties. The Commission’s proposed 

rule required affirmative disclosure of placement and graduation outcomes, mandated a cooling-off period before enrollment, and 
2

ensure that institutions accepting veteran’s education benefits – which are utilized by veterans, 

their dependents, and their survivors – are not engaging in deceptive or misleading practices.3

Specifically, the Commission is authorized to transmit preliminary findings of its investigations

to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Department of Veterans Affairs must then take 

appropriate action, which can include suspension of the institution, within 90 days. For decades, 

our predecessors on the Commission did little to fulfill the agency’s duties under this statute, and 

we must change course.

Second, the Commission should pursue initiatives to better protect the personal data of military 

families. Unsurprisingly, with deployments and frequent moves, military family use of social 

media is high. Protecting their personal data is not only about privacy, it also implicates national 

security. 

In 2018, Strava, which called itself “the social network for athletes,” publicly revealed the 

geolocations of members of the military in sensitive locations, including Iraq and Syria, on a 

publicly accessible map.4 Military families also report identity theft at a significantly higher rate 

than the public at large.

5 Through enforcement, rulemaking, and other policy initiatives, the 

Commission should ensure its data protection work advances the goal of safeguarding this 

sensitive data.

Finally, Commissioners should properly discharge our duty under the law to protect military 

families from unlawful practices in the auto market. For many service members, an automobile 

will be the largest purchase they make. While most auto dealers treat military families with 

respect, there are too many instances where these families are taken advantage of. 

The FTC is tasked with enforcing a host of consumer protection laws in the auto dealer market.6

Congress also authorized the Commission to trigger redress, penalties, and other sanctions for 

unlawful practices, but Commissioners have not voted to use this authority in any meaningful 

way. To protect military families and honest businesses that compete fairly, the FTC should use 

the authorities Congress has authorized.

While I am disappointed that two of my colleagues are not supporting this effort to continue the 

agency’s longstanding practice of authorizing enforcement resolutions to prosecute violations of 

the laws that Congress has authorized the FTC to enforce, I have confidence that agency staff 

will use these new tools effectively.

 

laid out procedures for refunds for students withdrawing early. However, the rule was vacated in 1980, and the Commission 

returned to the approach that the agency’s report concluded was ineffective. 

3 Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, Pub. L. No. 93-508, 88 Stat. 1578. 4 Ricardo Pérez-Peña & Matthew Rosenberg, Strava Fitness App Can Reveal Military Sites, Analysts Say, N.Y. TIMES (Jan 29, 

2018), https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/world/middleeast/strava-heat-map.html. 5 See Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, Active Duty Servicemembers are More likely to Report Identity Theft than Other 

Adults, New FTC Data Shows (May 21, 2020), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2020/05/active-dutyservicemembers-are-more-likely-report-identity-theft. 6 Congress required the Federal Trade Commission to coordinate with other agencies to monitor complaints and ensure that 

appropriate action is taken. See 12 U.S.C. 5519(e).