They fought to protect our nation.
Now they’re on a new battlefield, protecting our children.

While America fights terrorists overseas, there is another kind of terrorist right here at home, targeting our children. PROTECT has joined forces with the U.S. Special Operations Command and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to combat this exploding threat.

PROTECT developed the idea for the HERO Corps in 2008, and the program was launched in 2013. We recruit some of America’s most talented wounded, ill, and injured veterans and train them in counter-child-exploitation and digital forensics. These Human Exploitation Rescue Operatives (HEROs) are then deployed to Homeland Security Investigations field offices for a one-year internship, working with federal agents to investigate child sexual exploitation. HERO graduates have gone on to successful careers in federal and local law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and the private sector.