WASHINGTON, DC – The 118th Congress will soon draw to a close, and lawmakers have important work to do to address the national emergency of hostage-taking and wrongful detention of United States nationals abroad. The Foley Foundation’s six years of nonpartisan research documenting and analyzing this national security threat shows that while the governmental reforms first enabled by PPD-30 in 2015 and later codified with bipartisan support in the 2020 Robert Levinson Hostage-Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act, have secured the release of more than 140 Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad, adaptation is needed to stay ahead of hostage-takers.
Statistical analysis of our dataset of over 400 cases of American nationals taken hostage or wrongfully detained in the last quarter century alongside annual interviews of dozens of hostage families, returnees, government officials, and third-party intermediaries, underpin the policy and legislative recommendations we’ve issued annually since 2019. Our research is aimed at bringing more Americans home more quickly and preventing future hostage-taking.
Based on that work, the top issues Congress must address include:
- the need for transparency in the wrongful detention designation process;
- greater support for current victims and survivors of hostage-taking; and
- the need for bold actions to deter captors and prevent Americans abroad from becoming targets.
Several draft bills are circulating through both chambers (a list appears below). To address the issues above we support the following provisions:
- Transparency in the Wrongful Detention Designation Process
- Notification: Families of Americans held captive deserve an answer from the government as to whether it will designate their loved one as wrongfully detained within at most 180 days; families deserve to know the reason for a denial and be given the opportunity to appeal it with relevant information.
- Negotiated Returns without Designation: For tactical reasons, the government may pursue the release of an American unjustly detained but not to formally designate them as wrongfully detained. In these cases, the benefits of the designation should still flow to the hostage family and captive.
- Oversight: To perform its oversight role, Congress needs to regularly receive publicly releasable data regarding the number of Americans wrongfully detained, number of cases under review, length of the review process, and reasons why (at an aggregate level) cases are denied the designation.
- Practical Support for Victims & Survivors: (a) to relieve returned American hostages and wrongful detainees from the burden of tax penalties for failing to file their taxes while in captivity; (b) bar credit reporting agencies from issuing negative credit reports on Americans unjustly held captive abroad; (c) address the loss of Social Security benefits due to lost income while held captive; (d) ensure that the benefits codified in the 2023 NDAA for victims of hostage-taking can be provided through direct payment by the government and not only on a reimbursable basis.
- Deterrence & Prevention Actions
- Strategy: As a part of the nation’s National Security Strategy, a specific plan is needed to deter and prevent the international hostage-taking of Americans.
- Deterrence: Create a “State Sponsor of Unlawful or Wrongful Detention” designation akin to the existing State Sponsor of Terrorism designation. The designation would name and shame countries that engage in the practice and enable consequential sanctions.
- Prevention: (a) Support public awareness and education campaigns by the Department of State to proactively push information to travelers about the dangers posed by “D” indicator nations (those most likely to unjustly detain Americans); (b) enable regulatory agencies to mandate that travel carriers warn Americans of the risk posed by hostage-taking and present travelers with the option to sign in-advance a Privacy Act waiver to facilitate communication with family and advisors should they be taken; and (c) increase use of the national Hostage & Wrongful Detainee Flag.
Draft bills containing the provisions outlined above include:
While time ticks away on the remainder of this Congressional term, American hostages and wrongful detainees imprisoned abroad face an existential clock. It is time for Congress to act to support hostage families, returnees, current captives, and to reduce the risk that their constituents will fall prey to malicious actors seeking to leverage their lives to achieve their maligned objectives. Now is the time to start turning the tide on the inhumane practice of hostage diplomacy.
Questions about these legislative and policy recommendations may be directed to Foley Foundation Executive Director Benjamin Gray at 202-923-0342.
