The origin of The Network

From hypothesizing to defeating

The Network began with a question: what if trafficking could be fought the way traffickers operate — as a networked, profit-driven business?

Founded in 2013, The Network was created to test whether intelligence-based, data-driven strategies could change outcomes in the fight against exploitation. Early work showed that while individual interventions could uncover valuable information, they could not scale to match the size and complexity of the illicit massage industry. The solution was to move upstream: map the industry, understand its business model, and build intelligence that partners could use across jurisdictions.

Heyrick Research became a key part of that evolution, helping quantify the national scope of the illicit massage industry and bringing visibility to a problem many communities could see but not fully measure. In May 2022, Heyrick Research integrated with The Network, consolidating the organization’s research, data, and disruption strategy under one name.

Today, The Network uses data, technology, and cross-sector partnerships to expose and disrupt the systems that allow illicit massage businesses to operate. What began as stakeouts and hypotheses has become a scalable strategy defeating trafficking networks at their root.

Our name is inspired by former JSOC commander General Stanley McChrystal, who once said, “To defeat a networked enemy, we had to become a network ourselves.