He said tracking cash flows, and increasing prosecutions and incarcerations were important, with the ultimate goal of increasing cooperation and momentum.
Other recommendations in the committee's report included increasing prosecutions of adult sites that fail to take adequate steps to prevent children obtaining access to them.
Mr. Panetta, who has been under pressure from advocacy groups and members of Congress to address this crisis, is right to fight the problem by increasing prosecutions, not just by increasing awareness or sensitivity.
Increasing prosecutions of undocumented people is likely to bring additional costs, despite the precipitous decline in illegal crossings.
Nations can also increase prosecution as a deterrent against future looting.
The move to increase prosecution is motivated in part by the flood of fentanyl in the drug market in New Hampshire.
The report urged Romania to improve its judicial system and increase prosecution of high-level corruption and to improve the public procurement process.
Measures that will increase prosecution, measures that will have tougher penalties, measures that will mean that you can take stronger action against trafficking are absolutely the right thing to do".
And because of increased prosecution in the United States, they said, getting caught without papers now could torpedo any chance of a visa later on, even just to visit relatives.
The Justice Department does not comment on the center's annual report, but a spokeswoman said the agency had increased prosecution of hate crimes by 35 percent during the first three years of Mr. Obama's presidency.
