Conclusion

This report examined the support provided to American hostages, wrongfully held detainees, and their families through interviews with 25 individuals personally connected with both types of cases. Overall, the changes made to the U.S. government’s hostage recovery enterprise have improved the experiences of the families of hostages and, to a limited extent, wrongful detainees. The creation of the HRFC and the SPEHA’s office continue to be viewed as a successful mechanism for increasing the accessibility of the U.S. government to the families of both hostages and wrongfully held detainees. The responses of hostage participants were generally positive with regard to their experiences interacting with both the HRFC and SPEHA’s office, showing an increase in satisfaction with the government compared with 2019 pre-PPD-30 participants. There are, however, aspects of the hostage recovery enterprise where continued improvement is needed. Hostage participants identified a need to continue to focus on access to information, especially the declassification of information for families, and expressed some concerns about the HRFC’s influence within the interagency framework over plans for the recovery of their loved ones.

Wrongful detainee participants, on the other hand, reported experiences with the U.S. government that were very similar to the experiences of the 2019 participants who interacted with the government prior to the reforms of the hostage recovery enterprise and the implementation of EO 13698 and PPD-30. Wrongful detainee participants reported, in general, that they did not feel as though their loved ones’ cases were a priority for the U.S. government and shared confusion about where they could receive support within the U.S. government. Wrongful detainees also shared concerns about the transparency of the process required to gain support from the SPEHA’s office and HRFC and a lack of clarity over what requirements a detention must meet to be considered wrongful. While there are a variety of legal and procedural reasons for the differences in support between hostage and wrongful detainee cases, the end result is confusion, frustration, and concern from wrongful detainee participants that the U.S. government is not concerned with the return of their loved ones.

In general, the restructuring of the U.S. government’s hostage recovery enterprise has had a positive impact and has been largely successful. The successful efforts of the U.S. government to secure the release of Americans held abroad should continue to be a priority of U.S. foreign policy. The support provided to the families of these individuals, as well, should continue to be a priority for the U.S. government. Responsible changes to policy should be considered to expand the support from and access to the U.S. government to the families of those U.S. nationals wrongfully held by foreign governments. Hostage-taking by terrorist groups and the wrongful detention of U.S. nationals will continue to be a pressing concern as militants and adversarial governments continue to seek ways to find leverage with the United States. In this increasingly hostile environment, the recovery of U.S. nationals and the provision of support for their families should continue to be a priority of any administration seeking to place the interests of Americans first.