Leaders of youth likely to invest in a total protection process (6)
I believe the answer is:
asylum
'protection process' is the definition.
'leaders of youth likely to invest in a total' is the wordplay.
'leaders of' suggests taking the first letters.
'to invest in' is an insertion indicator.
'total' becomes 'sum' ('sum' can be a synonym of 'total'**).
The first letters of 'youth likely' is 'yl'.
'a'+'sum'='asum'
'yl' inserted within 'asum' is 'ASYLUM'.
(Other definitions for asylum that I've seen before include "Harbour" , "Place of refuge, once a mental institution" , "hostel" , "Place of shelter or refuge" , "find sanctuary there" .)