How we operate
Operational personnel, techniques, and locations are not published. That is a standard protection in investigative work, and we apply it without exception — including with donors, at any level. Everything else is on this page: our filings, our operating standards, and the line we will not cross.
Operating standards
- Scope. We act on cases where force, fraud, coercion, or control is present. Consensual conduct between adults is outside our mandate.
- Authority. We develop and refer cases. Arrest, detention, and charging are law enforcement functions and remain with law enforcement.
- Source and method protection. Personnel, techniques, and locations are not disclosed to anyone, at any giving level, without exception.
- Scale. We do not accept cases we cannot resource to completion.
What we won’t do
- We take no position on what consenting adults choose for themselves. We pursue cases involving force, fraud, coercion, or control — nothing else.
Human dignity rests on the right to self-determination. That principle is what defines our scope rather than our preferences: we act where that right has been taken by force, fraud, coercion, or control, and nowhere else. It is also why we take no position on choices adults make freely for themselves.
- We are not vigilantes. We do not conduct raids, we do not detain anyone, and we do not carry out arrests. We build cases and refer them.
- We do not publish operational details. Ever, including to donors. If that’s a dealbreaker, we understand, and we’d rather tell you now.
The name
ATLAS — Arrows, Trident, Lightning, And Spear. The unified symbols of United States special operations. Each appears in our mark.
Faith
Most of our people are driven by faith. As an organization we hold no religious affiliation and we don’t screen anyone — staff, partners, or the people we help — on the basis of belief.