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Rand Issues Commentary to Los Angeles Times: OpenAI Says ChatGPT Is Safer for Teens. Now It Needs to Show Proof.
SANTA MONICA, California, Aug. 29 -- Rand issued the following commentary on Aug. 27, 2026, by senior policy researcher Ryan McBain to Los Angeles Times:
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OpenAI Says ChatGPT Is Safer for Teens. Now It Needs to Show Proof.
Last week, OpenAI began rolling out ChatGPT for Teens, a new user experience crafted to help young people "learn, think critically, deepen understanding, and use AI with confidence." Maybe most importantly, OpenAI vowed that it would place any users its system "estimates" to be under 18 into the system "automatically."
For nearly a year, parents have been able to link
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SANTA MONICA, California, Aug. 29 -- Rand issued the following commentary on Aug. 27, 2026, by senior policy researcher Ryan McBain to Los Angeles Times:
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OpenAI Says ChatGPT Is Safer for Teens. Now It Needs to Show Proof.
Last week, OpenAI began rolling out ChatGPT for Teens, a new user experience crafted to help young people "learn, think critically, deepen understanding, and use AI with confidence." Maybe most importantly, OpenAI vowed that it would place any users its system "estimates" to be under 18 into the system "automatically."
For nearly a year, parents have been able to linktheir children's ChatGPT accounts to their own, restricting features, setting quiet hours and receiving alerts in high-risk situations. Those parental controls remain available, but account linking is still voluntary: The invitation must be accepted, and either party can sever the connection.
ChatGPT for Teens sets a different default. When a user reports being age 13 to 17, or when OpenAI's system predicts that an account belongs to someone under 18, teen protections are automatically applied without waiting for a parent to activate them.
This shift matters because nearly 60% of U.S. teens now use ChatGPT, according to Pew, even though parents often have no idea what their children are discussing.
In a nationally representative survey my RAND colleagues and I conducted last year, we found that nearly 1 in 5 Americans ages 12 to 21--about 8.2 million young people--reported using an AI chatbot for mental health advice. Nearly two-thirds hadn't told anyone. A parent who never learns a conversation is occurring cannot be expected to activate safeguards around it. Automatic protections at least have a chance to reach that user.
Independent testing conducted with Common Sense Media and Stanford Medicine before the launch of ChatGPT for Teens last week illustrates what can go wrong. Widely used AI chatbots missed warning signs that emerged gradually over longer conversations; in one test, ChatGPT advised a tester posing as a teen to conceal cuts and scars from self-harm rather than directing the teen toward help. OpenAI's new protections aim to prevent such failures.
For users placed in the teen experience, these protections include tighter boundaries around conversations involving self-harm and eating disorders, graphic violence and sexual or romantic role-play. OpenAI says ChatGPT for Teens will not encourage emotional dependence nor pretend to have feelings or position itself as a substitute for human relationships. It also adds study tools, homework reminders, prompts to take breaks and warnings before a teenager uploads a potentially sensitive image.
This is an improvement over making parents find and activate a safety menu. But automatic protections for teens rests on an unforgiving premise: that OpenAI can find them. The company says its age prediction system will consider signals including the subjects an account discusses, times of day it's active, usage patterns and how long the account has existed. But in materials released during the launch, OpenAI did not publish the figure that matters most: What proportion of actual teens does it identify?
Roblox, the online gaming platform popular with children, offers a cautionary example. To use the included chat feature, players have to pass an age check--usually through an AI-powered face scan. Reports surfaced earlier this year of adults classified as children and children as adults. A Wired investigation found users had fooled the scan using avatars and even a photo of Kurt Cobain; one boy drew wrinkles and stubble in marker and was placed in the 21-plus category. The details were comical, but the consequences were not: A marker-drawn beard could become a passport into the adult category and out of the protections meant to safeguard children.
Correctly identifying teens is only the first test. The second is determining just how safe ChatGPT for Teens responses truly are. OpenAI has made a welcome start by publishing evaluations in areas including self-harm, eating disorders and sexual content. But it has released the scores without sharing its actual methods: Its report does not include the prompts, the number of cases or the detailed instructions used to judge the answers. Parents should not have to inspect those materials, but a third party should be able to determine whether such self-reported results deserve parents' confidence.
Instagram illustrates a different problem: the gulf between activating a safety feature and proving it works. Meta, which on Wednesday agreed to pay $17 billion and add child-safety measures to its Facebook and Instagram platforms to settle claims filed by 47 states, introduced Teen Accounts in 2024, automatically placing identified teens into restrictive settings. It later announced that Instagram had 54 million active teen accounts and that 97% of users age 13 to 15 remained in the protections. Those figures measured scale and retention, not effectiveness. They also did not reveal how many teens Instagram missed, or how much harm the settings prevented.
When outside researchers later tested (PDF) 47 of Instagram's announced safety features, they judged only eight as fully functional. Reuters confirmed some of the report's findings in its own tests. For instance, a teen account could view eating disorder content by searching "skinnythighs" without the space between words. Meta disputed the report and said teens placed in its protections saw less sensitive content, unwanted contact and late-night use.
Both can be true: Meta's system may reduce those harms, but also have significant failure points. The public still does not know how much protection Instagram Teen Accounts actually provides, because the data needed to answer that question remains inside Meta. The tech industry has arrived at a convenient arrangement, where its assurances are public, but its evidence is not.
The lesson is not that automatic protections are futile. It is that even ambitious efforts can fall short, and the public needs a way to discover when they do. OpenAI says it will "measure and publish what we are learning." That promise needs a protocol and a timetable.
OpenAI needs to publish a clear evaluation plan that answers three basic questions: Does the system reliably identify teens, including those who try to evade it? Does ChatGPT for Teens respond more safely in real-world conversations, compared to before the roll-out? And does the teen experience change what its younger users actually do--for instance, curbing prolonged use or making those in distress more likely to seek human help?
These results can be reported in aggregate without exposing private conversations, but OpenAI should disclose whether outcomes differ across groups and allow independent researchers and regulators to verify them. That would allow the public to judge the product by what it accomplishes, not what it promises.
OpenAI deserves credit for moving a core set of protections from voluntary to default. Other AI companies whose products are used by teens should follow its lead by adopting comparable protections. That said, last week's launch is akin to a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a building that has yet to pass safety inspection. The question now is whether OpenAI will open its doors to independent inspectors and let the public see what they find.
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More About This Commentary
Ryan McBain is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and a senior policy researcher at RAND, where he studies AI's effects on youth mental health.
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Original text here: https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2026/08/openai-says-chatgpt-is-safer-for-teens-now-it-needs.html
[Category: ThinkTank]
Hudson Institute Issues Commentary to Turkiye Today: Trump, Take the Golden Road to Samarkand
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 -- Hudson Institute, a research organization that says it promotes leadership for a secure, free and prosperous future, issued the following commentary on Aug. 28, 2026, by senior fellow Ken Moriyasu to Turkiye Today:
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Mr. Trump, Take the Golden Road to Samarkand
Bishkek is about to become the most consequential piece of diplomatic real estate in Eurasia.
Over three days, Kyrgyzstan's capital will host Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and, notably, only a U.S.
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 -- Hudson Institute, a research organization that says it promotes leadership for a secure, free and prosperous future, issued the following commentary on Aug. 28, 2026, by senior fellow Ken Moriyasu to Turkiye Today:
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Mr. Trump, Take the Golden Road to Samarkand
Bishkek is about to become the most consequential piece of diplomatic real estate in Eurasia.
Over three days, Kyrgyzstan's capital will host Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and, notably, only a U.S.special envoy.
The imbalance is hard to miss. Xi Jinping arrives on Aug. 30 for a state visit, during which he will also play a leading role in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) annual summit, while Washington sends a senior envoy to watch folk games.
On Aug. 31, SCO members and guests will pour into the city, including Putin, Erdogan, Modi, Iranian President Masood Pezeshkian and Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The main SCO summit and a parallel SCO-Plus gathering will be held on Sept. 1.
Meanwhile, Aug. 31 is Kyrgyzstan's Independence Day, marked by the opening of Bishkek Arena and the World Nomadic Games.
It is this event that Gor, President Donald Trump's highly active envoy, is set to attend. Gor's presence will ensure that Washington is not entirely absent from the diplomatic spotlight. He is also expected to hold separate meetings with Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and host President Sadyr Japarov, according to a diplomatic source.
Center of new global competition
Central Asia is emerging as a new battleground in great-power competition, because both the United States and China need the region to reduce their vulnerabilities to each other.
China needs Eurasian energy and transport corridors to reduce its exposure to maritime chokepoints which could be blocked by the U.S. Navy in a contingency over Taiwan. The United States needs the region's critical minerals to reduce its dependence on China.
Amid the newly found focus on the region, Central Asian governments are doubling down on multi-vector foreign policy: relationships in every direction.
Kazakhstan, which borders both Russia and China, has just held a fresh round of elections, following constitutional reform, to strengthen political stability at home. The goal is to make decision-making more agile in a less predictable global environment.
The memory of January 2022, when political unrest forced Tokayev to call in the Russia-led CSTO, remains a stark reminder of how domestic instability can quickly create foreign dependence.
While Russia is consumed by the war in Ukraine, China sees an opportunity to expand its influence in Central Asia. The United States cannot afford to be absent as Beijing deepens its position in the heart of Eurasia.
This week in Bishkek, China will have the upper hand: Xi will attend as head of state, while Washington sends only an envoy. Trump should change that next year.
Trump-like merchants
He has a chance to become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Central Asia.
The groundwork is already being laid. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to travel to Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Oct. 18 and 19 to meet Central Asian counterparts for a C5+1 meeting, according to Central Asian sources.
Astana, Kazakhstan's capital, and Tashkent, Uzbekistan's capital, would be logical destinations for Trump, paying tribute to Central Asia's largest economy and most populous nation, respectively.
But Samarkand, the ancient Silk Road crossroads, could offer the ideal photo op. The turquoise domes of Registan Square belong to madrassas, or Islamic schools, not mosques. Standing before them would signal an American president paying respect to the Islamic world's contributions to human knowledge, such as algebra, algorithms, astronomy and celestial mapping.
For centuries, merchants traded with whoever arrived. Trump would feel right at home.
None of the five Central Asian countries is rated "Free" by Freedom House. But they sit atop enormous reserves of oil, gas, uranium and critical minerals.
Trump in Samarkand would show an American president arriving not to lecture, wage war or demand allegiance, but to do business.
The United States does not need to dominate Central Asia. It just needs to make sure no other power does.
As Beijing seeks to reduce its dependence on maritime chokepoints, the old Silk Road is again becoming strategically important.
More than a century ago, British poet James Elroy Flecker wrote:
"For lust of knowing what should not be known, we take the Golden Road to Samarkand."
Next year, the president of the United States should take that road.
Beijing will be watching.
Read in Turkiye Today (https://www.turkiyetoday.com/opinion/mr-trump-take-the-golden-road-to-samarkand-3226893?s=4.
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Ken Moriyasu is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, where he focuses on Greater Asia--the Eurasian landmass stretching from Turkey to Japan--now emerging as a primary arena for great power competition among the United States, China, and Russia.
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Original text here: https://www.hudson.org/foreign-policy/mr-trump-take-golden-road-samarkand-ken-moriyasu
[Category: ThinkTank]
Center of the American Experiment Wins National Award for Fraud Coverage
MINNETONKA, Minnesota, Aug. 29 -- The Center of the American Experiment, a civic and educational organization that says it creates and advocates policies, issued the following news:
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Written by Bill Walsh
American Experiment wins national award for fraud coverage
Center of the American Experiment won the 2026 Bob Williams Award for Securing Durable Freedom from the State Policy Network (SPN). The award was announced this week at SPN's annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. SPN recognized American Experiment's work exposing and documenting Minnesota's fraud problem:
Through two years of relentless
... Show Full Article
MINNETONKA, Minnesota, Aug. 29 -- The Center of the American Experiment, a civic and educational organization that says it creates and advocates policies, issued the following news:
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Written by Bill Walsh
American Experiment wins national award for fraud coverage
Center of the American Experiment won the 2026 Bob Williams Award for Securing Durable Freedom from the State Policy Network (SPN). The award was announced this week at SPN's annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. SPN recognized American Experiment's work exposing and documenting Minnesota's fraud problem:
Through two years of relentlessinvestigative reporting, American Experiment exposed more than $9 billion in fraud across Minnesota's social-service programs, bringing national attention to a story that demanded accountability. Their reporting reached millions, helped prompt congressional hearings, and contributed to a major policy victory: the creation of Minnesota's first government-wide Office of Inspector General to investigate fraud and pursue criminal prosecutions.
In his speech accepting the award, American Experiment President John Hinderaker singled out the work of Policy Fellow Bill Glahn for his relentless investigative journalism:
"It can be tough being a policy organization in a blue state because it isn't easy to get good policy implemented. On the other hand, bad policy and incompetent government create a lot of opportunities for important public campaigns. Bill Glahn has been on the fraud case since January of 2022, but the story in Minnesota isn't over. The fraud continues to take place, our investigations are ongoing, and fraud is the number one issue in the political campaigns that are raging right now. So, the ultimate impact of our work is yet to be known."
State Policy Network's mission is to catalyze thriving, durable freedom movements in every state, anchored with high-performing independent think tanks.
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Bill Walsh is the Vice President of Communications at Center of the American Experiment. bill.walsh@americanexperiment.org
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Original text here: https://www.americanexperiment.org/american-experiment-wins-national-award-for-fraud-coverage/
[Category: ThinkTank]
Center of the American Experiment Issues Commentary: Big Tech Settlement Includes Practical Changes But Also Caveats
MINNETONKA, Minnesota, Aug. 29 -- The Center of the American Experiment, a civic and educational organization that says it creates and advocates policies, issued the following commentary on Aug. 28, 2026, by policy fellow Catrin Wigfall:
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Big Tech settlement includes practical changes but also caveats
The massive tech company Meta has agreed to pay nearly $18 billion to settle the sprawling lawsuits brought by 48 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories accusing the company of designing Facebook and Instagram to hook kids and profit off their attention.
The terms of the agreement
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MINNETONKA, Minnesota, Aug. 29 -- The Center of the American Experiment, a civic and educational organization that says it creates and advocates policies, issued the following commentary on Aug. 28, 2026, by policy fellow Catrin Wigfall:
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Big Tech settlement includes practical changes but also caveats
The massive tech company Meta has agreed to pay nearly $18 billion to settle the sprawling lawsuits brought by 48 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories accusing the company of designing Facebook and Instagram to hook kids and profit off their attention.
The terms of the agreementwill automatically apply to users under 18, and most of the terms are locked in for a decade. The new changes include:
* Daily time limits that teens can't turn off. A cumulative two-hour daily time limit will be the default across Facebook and Instagram, including time spent scrolling. Teens can only turn off the limit with a parent's permission.
* Default blocks from Meta apps at night. Between midnight and 6 a.m., teens will not be able to post or view their Feed, Stories, Explore, or Reels.
* Muted notifications during school hours. Notifications will be muted by default between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Teens will only receive push notifications for direct messages and alerts about their account security or safety.
* Screen time prompts. Teens will receive prompts after every 15 minutes of continuous screen time on Facebook or Instagram. They will also receive prompts when their total daily usage hits 60 minutes or 90 minutes.
* Algorithmic feed control. Teens can choose a non-algorithmic feed (one that isn't "personalized" by Meta's recommendation systems) as their default. Parents can adjust the default experience to require this setting.
* Autoplay control. Teens will be able to turn off autoplay so that content no longer plays automatically. Parents can adjust the default experience to require this setting.
* Hidden likes. The number of likes and reactions on teens' posts -- both their own and those from others -- will be hidden by default.
* Filter blocks. In addition to the existing policy that blocks teens from using cosmetic surgery filters, teens will also be blocked from using extreme makeup filters.
"Ensuring teens have a safe and productive experience on our platforms is an absolute imperative for Meta," the tech conglomerate said in a statement.
The fine print, though, reveals that Meta platforms' direct messaging features are excluded from Night Mode, Time Limit, and School Mode restrictions.
As U.S. News & World Report's Olivier Knox puts it: "So your child might not be able to fall down a rabbit hole of pirated 'Game of Thrones' clips while you sleep, but they could stay in constant contact with their social media buddies in the wee hours of the morning or during third-period math class."
According to Meta, the above protections "will only be truly effective if we work with our peers -- TikTok and YouTube -- to put the same measures in place."
And that's a telling caveat, continues Knox.
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Under the terms Meta disclosed, the money [from the settlement] will come in two tranches:
* States will get about $12.7 billion -- 70% of the promised payout -- over 10 years.
* The remaining 30%, roughly $5.3 billion, will only be disbursed after YouTube and TikTok implement a one-hour daily limit, "night mode" and other measures. And only after each of those companies pays out matching the 30% amount.
... Meta is initially committing to a two-hour daily limit but wants YouTube and TikTok to accept a one-hour daily limit.
Meta says it will also reduce its daily time limit to one hour per app and expand night mode to 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. if its rivals sign on.
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The backlash against Big Tech isn't happening only in the U.S. As I wrote here, UK recently joined a handful of countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Indonesia, that have put restrictions on social media use for children. France, Spain, Denmark, Thailand, and South Korea are looking into or developing similar measures.
Whether any of this changes how teens use these apps is an open question, especially given the direct messaging loopholes. Those gaps should remind us that parents still remain the first line of defense.
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Original text here: https://www.americanexperiment.org/big-tech-settlement-includes-practical-changes-but-also-caveats/
[Category: ThinkTank]
Capital Research Center Issues InfluenceWatch Wrap Up on Aug. 28, 2026
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 -- The Capital Research Center issued the following InfluenceWatch wrap up on Aug. 28, 2026:
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InfluenceWatch, a project of Capital Research Center, is a comprehensive and ever-evolving compilation of our research into the numerous advocacy groups, foundations, and donors working to influence the public policy process. The website offers transparency into these influencers' funding, motives, and connections while providing insight often neglected by other watchdog groups.
The information compiled in InfluenceWatch gives news outlets and other interested parties research
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 -- The Capital Research Center issued the following InfluenceWatch wrap up on Aug. 28, 2026:
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InfluenceWatch, a project of Capital Research Center, is a comprehensive and ever-evolving compilation of our research into the numerous advocacy groups, foundations, and donors working to influence the public policy process. The website offers transparency into these influencers' funding, motives, and connections while providing insight often neglected by other watchdog groups.
The information compiled in InfluenceWatch gives news outlets and other interested parties researchto use in reporting on significant topics that are often overlooked by the American public.
CRC is pleased to present some of the most significant additions to InfluenceWatch in the past week:
* Alliance for Positive Change is a New York City-based group that provides health care access, housing, peer training, and other services to those living with AIDS/HIV and other chronic conditions. In 2010, it partnered with the Keith Haring Foundation to open the Keith Haring ASC Harlem Center. Between 2012 and 2017, the group's annual operating budget increased from $10 million to $22 million. Organizations that have funded the Alliance for Positive Change include the New York Community Trust, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, and the Robin Hood Foundation.
* Affinity Legacy is a nonprofit Grantmaker located in New York City that supports organizations focused on issues such as mental health, workforce education, and assisting previously incarcerated individuals. Initially founded in 1986 as Bronx Health Place, it eventually changed its name to Affinity Legacy following its acquisition by Molina Healthcare. Affinity Legacy's grant recipients have included the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center Inc., Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, Inc., and Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison Inc.
* NY/NJ Baykeeper is a left-of-center environmentalist group that uses litigation and advocacy to influence water-quality and land-use policy within the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary. It has previously worked with other left-of-center environmentalist groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, the Sierra Club, and Hudson Riverkeeper (Riverkeeper). It has received funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Inc., Network for Good, Inc., and the Hyde and Watson Foundation.
* Creation Justice Ministries (CJM) is a religious advocacy group that promotes left-of-center environmentalist policy. Initially founded in 1983 as an "Eco-Justice Working Group" of the National Council of Churches, the group would later become an independent nonprofit organization with members including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church, and the Progressive National Baptist Convention. CJM has received funding from the US Climate Action Network, the Partnership Project, Georgia Interfaith Power & Light, and the Bluegreen Alliance.
* New York University (NYU) is a private research university with campuses in New York City, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai. It houses the William J. Brennan Center for Justice and the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center. NYU's research funding has included grants from federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Energy. NYU has also received funding from Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, the Bloomberg Family Foundation Inc., the Leon Levy Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Wyss Foundation.
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Original text here: https://capitalresearch.org/article/influencewatch-friday-08-28-2026/
[Category: ThinkTank]
America First Policy Institute: What Lawmakers Can Learn From Victims of Human Trafficking
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 -- The America First Policy Institute issued the following commentary on Aug. 28, 2026, by Andrew Pavoncello, senior policy advisor for homeland security, immigration, and anti-human trafficking policy:
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What Lawmakers Can Learn from Victims of Human Trafficking
Human trafficking continues to plague our nation. While the extent of the crisis is not fully known, it is estimated that over 1 million trafficking victims are living in modern slavery in America. The figure includes both domestically trafficked individuals and those trafficked into the country. To tackle this
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 -- The America First Policy Institute issued the following commentary on Aug. 28, 2026, by Andrew Pavoncello, senior policy advisor for homeland security, immigration, and anti-human trafficking policy:
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What Lawmakers Can Learn from Victims of Human Trafficking
Human trafficking continues to plague our nation. While the extent of the crisis is not fully known, it is estimated that over 1 million trafficking victims are living in modern slavery in America. The figure includes both domestically trafficked individuals and those trafficked into the country. To tackle thisburgeoning crisis, much more must be done to increase penalties for commercial sex buyers and facilitators to stop the organized criminal syndicates that reap hundreds of billions of dollars per year worldwide by exploiting our most vulnerable people.
To better understand the issue, on June 26, 2026, the America Combats Trafficking (ACT) initiative at the America First Policy Institute hosted a listening session with former victims of trafficking at the local jail in Chesterfield County, VA. This session, convened by AFPI Senior Fellow and former Acting Director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tony Pham and Senior Policy Advisor Andrew Pavoncello, included participants from law enforcement, social workers, and five female victims of human trafficking. Three of the victims are still incarcerated for illicit substance use, among other crimes, which permeated the time they were trafficked, but participate in a substance abuse recovery program conducted at the jail. That recovery program, called Helping Addicts Recover Progressively (HARP), was established in March of 2016 by Sheriff Karl Leonard. HARP is a peer-to-peer counseling, therapy, and medical program that helps inmates overcome substance abuse.
Addiction often serves as the instrument that traffickers use to control their victims, establishing dependency by keeping them financially and psychologically reliant on them. The Department of State has acknowledged this connection, stating that "the role of substance use disorder in human trafficking is powerful and pervasive; addiction can increase a person's vulnerability to being trafficked."
Unfortunately, correctional facilities frequently fail to recognize the connection between drug abuse and trafficking. In our listening session, we heard that many women enter the criminal justice system for committing prostitution-related offenses, drug crimes, or other non-violent crimes without being fully vetted and identified as trafficking victims.
Programs like HARP, however, provide standardized screening procedures that incorporate the services of mental health experts and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE). These professional services are the first step in earlier detection and intervention. While initially focusing on substance abuse, the process does more than help inmates get clean and sober; it also identifies mental health and other underlying issues that plague their addiction.
When victims are identified as trafficking victims, it shifts the focus from being portrayed as perpetrators of the crimes they were coerced into committing to the trauma they endured. All five victims said that implementing these standardized screening procedures across all correctional facilities would significantly increase the likelihood that others might be identified as trafficking victims. Victims and substance abusers who establish rapport with law enforcement, medical, and mental health professionals in these spaces reduce recidivism after their release. The national average of repeat offenders is 70 percent, while the HARP program's recidivism rate is just 18 percent.
Preventing recidivism, however, also requires imposing consequences for those who purchase the sex services of trafficking victims or are otherwise complicit in trafficking. Ironically, these purchasers often receive lighter penalties than trafficking victims, or they avoid charges completely. One of the victims lamented that there was no ability for her to escape because her trafficker rented the whole motel and used it for trafficking operations. "Drugs were kept up front. He had his drug runners in a few rooms in the back. They would watch the parking lot. It's only one way in, one way out."
Reintegrating into society can also be more difficult for trafficking victims if they have criminal records that impede them from employment, housing, and financial stability. Recently, President Trump signed the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act, which authorizes courts, under certain circumstances, to expunge arrest records and criminal convictions for victims who have committed either non-violent or violent federal crimes (if the victim of the crime is not a minor) as a direct result of being a victim of human trafficking.
Continuous post-incarceration care is also critical for individuals recovering from addiction and trafficking-related trauma. More than 80 percent of survivors return to commercial sex work due to lapses in support programs. According to the State Department, some traffickers recruit directly from detox and addiction treatment facilities, making recovery that much harder. Providing and maintaining uninterrupted access to treatment facilities and secured, effective emergency housing during reentry into society reduces recidivism and decreases the likelihood that traffickers can manipulate and recruit their victims again.
Our insight into these victims' experiences confirms that addiction should not be viewed as a comorbid condition, but as a tool that traffickers, who most often are their drug dealers, use to manipulate, groom, and retain victims. We asked our participants if they had one thing to say to lawmakers, what would it be? One victim responded: "What I'd like them to know is that drug use and the trafficking go hand in hand. If you look at my record, it all has to do with each other."
The experiences of the victims participating in HARP, although heart-wrenching, powerfully illustrate that recovering from trafficking is not fully achieved by being rescued. Rather, lawmakers should consider implementing a new screening and tracking protocol at the correctional facilities, like gang screening that identifies trafficking patterns, maps connections to organized crime and cartels, and better equips investigators to pursue the traffickers responsible. The discussion highlighted that the continuity of health care services, stable and safe housing, trauma-informed services, and in-house correctional programs like HARP are vital to preserving human dignity by making the intersection of substance abuse and trafficking a lesson learned from our past.
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Andrew Pavoncello serves as a senior policy advisor for homeland security, immigration, and anti-human trafficking policy at AFPI. He has more than a decade of experience in public-private partnerships and strategic alliances, building national coalitions, and engaging stakeholders across government and industry.
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Original text here: https://www.americafirstpolicy.com/issues/what-lawmakers-can-learn-from-victims-of-human-trafficking
[Category: ThinkTank]
America First Policy Institute Issues Commentary to Fox News: Want to Know What's Really in Your Food? The Trump Administration is Trying to Help
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 -- The America First Policy Institute issued the following excerpts of a commentary on Aug. 28, 2026, by Healthy America Chair Bobby Jindal and policy analyst Taylor Hood to Fox News:
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Want to know what's really in your food? The Trump administration is trying to help
Americans have a right to know what is in their food.
That shouldn't be controversial. You should be able to walk into a grocery store, read a label, and be confident that the ingredients listed on the food you are buying have been subject to transparent, science-based oversight and are safe for consumption.
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 -- The America First Policy Institute issued the following excerpts of a commentary on Aug. 28, 2026, by Healthy America Chair Bobby Jindal and policy analyst Taylor Hood to Fox News:
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Want to know what's really in your food? The Trump administration is trying to help
Americans have a right to know what is in their food.
That shouldn't be controversial. You should be able to walk into a grocery store, read a label, and be confident that the ingredients listed on the food you are buying have been subject to transparent, science-based oversight and are safe for consumption.The Trump administration has now taken an important step toward doing exactly that.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed a rule requiring food manufacturers to notify the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) whenever they determine that an added substance is Generally Recognized as Safe, or "GRAS."
When Congress passed the Food Additives Amendment in 1958, the idea was simple: ingredients with a documented history of safe use or those that qualified experts had agreed were safe should not face the same pre-market approval process as brand-new food additives.
Everyday substances like salt, vinegar, black pepper, and baking powder fall into this category.
To read the full article, click here (https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/want-know-whats-really-food-trump-administration-trying-help).
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Bobby Jindal is originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and currently serves as the Chair of Healthy America at AFPI. Jindal has a well-earned reputation as one of America's most successful public sector executives and one of the boldest innovators in the healthcare and education sectors.
Taylor Hood is from Alpharetta, GA, and currently serves as Policy Analyst, Healthy America Policy at AFPI. Taylor graduated from Clemson University with a bachelor's degree in Microbiology and Biomedicine.
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Original text here: https://www.americafirstpolicy.com/issues/want-to-know-whats-really-in-your-food-the-trump-administration-is-trying-to-help
[Category: ThinkTank]
