I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3588 

To require the Secretary of Defense to establish an initiative on improving 

the capacity of military criminal investigative organizations to prevent 

child sexual exploitation, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 27, 2019 

Ms. SPANBERGER (for herself, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. COX of California, and Ms. 

ESHOO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Defense to establish an initiative 

on improving the capacity of military criminal investigative organizations to prevent child sexual exploitation, 

and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘End National Defense 

5 Network Abuse Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘END Network 

6 Abuse Act of 2019’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) In a survey of online peer-to-peer networks, 

2 there is an alarming amount of traffic related to the 

3 online trading and sharing of child sexual exploi4 tation material. 

5 (2) Child sexual exploitation, which includes 

6 child pornography, child sexual abuse, and child sex 

7 trafficking is a complex and growing problem that 

8 requires a coordinated, multifaceted response. 

9 (3) Victims of child sexual exploitation are less 

10 likely to self-report or be identified by outside 

11 sources because of their age and the nature of the 

12 crimes committed against them. 

13 (4) Individuals participating in the possession 

14 and trade of child pornography are significantly 

15 more likely to also participate in other forms of child 

16 sexual exploitation, including child sexual abuse and 

17 child trafficking. 

18 (5) The detection of online peer-to-peer trading 

19 of child pornography focuses on images of children 

20 under age 12. Approximately 20 percent of the total 

21 number of child sexual exploitation images discov22 ered feature children ages 0 to 4. 

23 (6) The Internet Crimes Against Children Child 

24 Online Protective Services (ICACCOPS) program 

25 has been used to identify and collect evidence for the 


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1 purpose of prosecuting offenders online. The pro2 gram also catalogues images and creates a digital li3 brary for the purpose of identifying victims of child 

4 sexual exploitation through these images. 

5 (7) In 2017, using such program, which scans 

6 the Internet for peer-to-peer trading of child pornog7 raphy, law enforcement officials identified 663,853 

8 unique Internet Protocol (IP) addresses associated 

9 with the possession or trading of child pornography. 

10 Each unique Internet Protocol address is associated 

11 with possessing or trading a range of images, with 

12 some possessing more than 50,000 images that de13 pict the sexual abuse of children. 

14 (8) Training military criminal investigative or15 ganizations on advanced tools is integral to the pro16 tection of both military and civilian children. 

17 (9) Continued training on advanced techno18 logical tools will allow military criminal investigative 

19 organizations to acquire, adapt, and maintain the 

20 technical skills and knowledge needed to keep up 

21 with the landscape of online child sexual exploi22 tation, which is constantly changing as perpetrators 

23 take new steps to avoid detection. 

24 (10) There are existing best practices and mod25 els that the Department of Defense should leverage, 


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1 including online technologies that can simplify the 

2 investigative process. 

3 SEC. 3. INITIATIVE TO IMPROVE THE CAPACITY OF MILI4 TARY CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE ORGANIZA5 TIONS TO PREVENT CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOI6 TATION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

8 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense 

9 shall establish an initiative on improving the capacity of 

10 military criminal investigative organizations to prevent 

11 child sexual exploitation. Under the initiative, the Sec12 retary shall work with an external partner to train military 

13 criminal investigative organization officials at Department 

14 of Defense installations from all military departments re15 garding— 

16 (1) online investigative technology, tools, and 

17 techniques; 

18 (2) computer forensics; 

19 (3) complex evidentiary issues; 

20 (4) child victim identification; 

21 (5) child victim referral for comprehensive in22 vestigation and treatment services; and 

23 (6) related instruction. 


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1 (b) PARTNERSHIPS AND AGREEMENTS.—Under the 

2 initiative, the Secretary shall develop partnerships and es3 tablish collaborative agreements with the following: 

4 (1) The Department of Justice, Office of the 

5 Attorney General, in better coordinating the inves6 tigative jurisdictions and law enforcement authori7 ties of the military criminal investigative organiza8 tions, and in improving the justice community’s un9 derstanding of those law enforcement authorities to 

10 enforce Federal criminal statutes. 

11 (2) Federal criminal investigative organizations 

12 responsible for enforcement of Federal criminal stat13 utes related to combatting child sexual exploitation, 

14 in order to ensure a streamlined process for trans15 ferring criminal investigations into child exploitation 

16 to other jurisdictions, while maintaining the integrity 

17 of the evidence already collected. 

18 (3) A highly qualified national child protection 

19 organization or law enforcement training center with 

20 demonstrated expertise in the delivery of law en21 forcement training— 

22 (A) to detect, identify, investigate, and 

23 prosecute individuals engaged in the trading or 

24 production of child pornography and the online 

25 solicitation of children; and 


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1 (B) to train military criminal investigative 

2 organization officials at Department of Defense 

3 installations from all military departments. 

4 (4) A highly qualified national child protection 

5 organization with demonstrated expertise in the de6 velopment and delivery of multidisciplinary interven7 tion training including evidence-based forensic inter8 viewing, victim advocacy, trauma-informed mental 

9 health services, medical services, and multidisci10 plinary coordination between the Department of De11 fense and civilian experts to improve outcomes for 

12 victims of child sexual exploitation. 

13 (5) Children’s Advocacy Centers located in the 

14 same communities as military installations that co15 ordinate the multidisciplinary team response and 

16 child-friendly approach to identifying, investigating, 

17 prosecuting, and intervening in child sexual exploi18 tation cases that can partner with military installa19 tions on law enforcement, child protection, prosecu20 tion, mental health, medical, and victim advocacy to 

21 investigate sexual exploitation, help children heal 

22 from sexual exploitation, and hold offenders account23 able. 

24 (6) State and local authorities to address law 

25 enforcement capacity in communities where military 


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1 installations are located, and to prevent lapses in ju2 risdiction that would undercut the Department’s ef3 forts to prevent child sexual exploitation. 

4 (7) The National Association to Protect Chil5 dren and the United States Special Operations Com6 mand Care Coalition to replicate successful outcomes 

7 of the Human Exploitation Rescue Operative 

8 (HERO) Child Rescue Corps, as established by sec9 tion 890A of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 

10 U.S.C. 473), within military criminal investigative 

11 organizations and other Department components to 

12 combat child sexual exploitation. 

13 (c) LOCATIONS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 

15 out the initiative— 

16 (A) in at least two States where there is a 

17 high density of Department network users in 

18 comparison to the overall population of the 

19 States; 

20 (B) in at least two States where there is 

21 a high population of Department network users; 

22 (C) in at least two States where there is a 

23 large percentage of Indian children, including 

24 children who are Alaska Native or Native Ha25 waiian; 


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1 (D) in at least one State with a population 

2 with fewer than 2,000,000 people; 

3 (E) in at least one State with a population 

4 with fewer than 5,000,000 people, but not fewer 

5 than 2,000,000 people; 

6 (F) in at least one State with a population 

7 with fewer than 10,000,000 people, but not 

8 fewer than 5,000,000; and 

9 (G) in at least one State with a population 

10 with 10,000,000 or more people. 

11 (2) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—The Sec12 retary shall ensure that the locations at which the 

13 initiative is carried out are distributed across dif14 ferent regions. 

15 (d) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out 

16 the initiative, the Secretary shall— 

17 (1) participate in multi-jurisdictional task 

18 forces; 

19 (2) establish cooperative agreements to facili20 tate co-training and collaboration with Federal, 

21 State, and local law enforcement; and 

22 (3) develop a streamlined process to refer child 

23 sexual abuse cases to other jurisdictions. 

Æ 


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