If there’s one thing I’ve witnessed over the years during my work for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and now at my current role as CEO of Our Rescue, it’s the realization that the people who dedicate their lives to fighting child sexual exploitation are real life heroes.
Among my own personal heroes is my former HSI colleague, Mike Prado, who now oversees the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Crime Center (C3). Mike and I recently sat down to discuss our shared interest in supporting the fellow heroes in the battle with us.
Mike and I met in 2014 when I had just stepped into the role of Assistant Director for Domestic Operations at Homeland Security Investigations. Mike came to HQ from Central California, where he dedicated himself to the fight against child exploitation as a case agent, and then through leading HSI efforts at the ICAC as an agent practitioner and supervisor. It marked the beginning of a working relationship and friendship that has lasted ever since.
Over the years, I’ve watched Mike become one of the most respected leaders in the fight against child exploitation. Today at C3 Mike oversees the investigations of federal and international cyber-crimes against children. To me, C3 is the gold standard in this mission. The center began in the late 1990s right as the internet was transforming the landscape of crime. For nearly three decades, C3 has evolved into what I call the “center of excellence” in combating child exploitation. Armed with the latest technology and training, C3 supports the investigation of predators, identification of survivors, and supports HSI field offices and ICAC’s with cutting-edge expertise, software, technology, and equipment. C3 employs the latest technology to track predators across the darknet, decrypt devices, or unmask traffickers hiding behind global anonymity.
Let’s be clear: the problem in this fight is sheer scale. For every win, more and more cases emerge. For every network dismantled overseas, another pops up. The demand for Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) in the U.S. fuels the entire cycle. We speak with ICAC units across the country, and they all tell us about the severity of the CSAM backlog. ICAC units are on the front lines of the fight against online exploitation, yet often facing budget and resources constraints that lead to the backlog of work. Until we face that reality and treat this epidemic with the urgency it demands, predators will continue setting the pace.
Watching C3 evolve over the years, tackling the latest challenges from encryption to Gen AI, has led me to ask the question: What if each of the 61 Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces in America looked like this?
ICAC teams operate on the frontlines in communities. So, imagine the difference if every one of the 61 ICAC units across the U.S. had access to the same kind of technology, training, and collaborative network that C3 provides. Imagine if every state, local, and federal official investigating child exploitation cases had the same ability to quickly unmask predators using encryption or AI, the same capacity to coordinate across jurisdictions, sharing information, and the same survivor-centered approach built into their operations.
That’s the grass-roots vision behind Our Rescue’s ICAC Connect Program to bolster law enforcement carrying impossible caseloads. They are triaging cases, often leaving many untouched, simply because they don’t have the resources.
In 2024, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline received over 20.5 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation. These reports included more than 62.9 million files—images, videos, and other materials—documenting the abuse of children. This is not just a statistic; it represents real children enduring unimaginable harm. Predators are organized, resourced, and relentless. ICAC Connect is our way of closing that gap and making sure local task forces aren’t left fighting today’s crimes with yesterday’s tools.
ICAC Connect is an audacious endeavor, but it is a start in making sure that if and/or when a child is exploited, or CSAM is encountered, the response is swift, coordinated, and backed by the best resources possible. The example provided by DHS’s Cyber Crime Center C3 proves what’s possible. ICAC Connect is about taking the first steps and scaling that model nationwide—so that no matter where a child is targeted, the local response looks like the center of excellence our children deserve.
To be clear, the dream of a C3-like center at every ICAC will take all of us to include lawmakers, appropriators and policy makers, non-profits, advocates, and law enforcement organizations at every level.
Think about this: The federal drug budget as stated by ONDCP is approximately $44.5 billion. Compare that to current year funding for ICAC’s at $48 million. That means, for every dollar spent fighting drug crimes, just one-tenth of a penny is spent fighting trafficking. I truly believe this is worth the thought and discussion for all the great people and organizations that are doing great work in this space.
One of the things I want to highlight is the toll this work takes on investigators. It’s a house of horrors every day. People don’t always realize how prevalent this problem is or the depth of the work being done behind the scenes.
While the term “hero” can be overused, it’s fitting here. Victim identification specialists devote their careers to meticulously analyzing horrific material, pixel-by-pixel, to find children in need and identify and apprehend predators. It is work most people couldn’t bear, yet it directly saves lives. My friend Mike Prado and I are honored to work alongside such individuals.
As Mike tells me, “I have the privilege of being able to work alongside truly heroic people that have done more than we could possibly ever, pay them back for.”
The fight against child exploitation cannot be left to the 61 ICAC units and C3 professionals alone. It requires all of us willing to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those on the front lines.
At Our Rescue, we believe that together we can change the pace of this fight, ensuring predators are outmatched, and children are protected.
Learn more, take action today and Join the Fight.