President Obama admitted Wednesday that the federal government has not always been successful in its efforts to work with families of U.S. hostages, and said his new policy for dealing with hostage situations is aimed at doing a better job for those families.
“I acknowledged to them in private what I want to say publicly: that it is true that there have been times where our government, regardless of good intentions, has let them down,” Obama said at the White House after meeting with some of the families. “I promised them that we can do better.”
Obama’s new policy is aimed at working more closely with those families, and protecting them from their own government in the event they take steps on their own in an effort to free their loved ones. One key change would shield families from prosecution if they pay kidnappers a ransom.
“My message to families is simple: We’re not going to abandon you; we will stand by you,” President Obama said. “These families are to be treated like what they are, our trusted partners and our active partners.”
The presidential policy directive was seven months in the making, after relatives of Americans abducted by the Islamic State complained about their treatment by the U.S. government during their loved ones’ captivity. In one well-known example, the parents of journalist James Foley, who was the first reporter beheaded by the Islamic State last summer, said they were threatened with prosecution after trying to negotiate the release of their son.
“The United States Department of Justice does not intend to add to families’ pain in such cases by suggesting that they could face criminal prosecution,” the White House stated in a document accompanying the new presidential policy directive.
“These families have already suffered enough and should never feel ignored or victimized by their own government,” Obama said.
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The new policy creates a “hostage recovery fusion cell” that “will serve as the single, permanent U.S. government interagency body responsible for coordinating the recovery of U.S. hostages abroad.” It will be made up of staff from the FBI, Pentagon, Justice, State and Treasury departments, as well as intelligence agencies.
It also creates a “special presidential envoy for hostage affairs” to help coordinate the government’s response to hostage situations, sets up a National Security Council-led group to review hostage recovery strategies and sets up a way to declassify information that can be shared with families.
The directive also “affirms our longstanding commitment to make no concessions to individuals or groups holding U.S. nationals hostage,” the White House reiterated.
It does shift policy somewhat, by spelling out that the government can directly communicate with hostile groups in an effort to rescue people, and may “assist private efforts to communicate with hostage-takers to secure the safe recovery of a hostage, whether directly or through public or private intermediaries.” Still, Obama stressed that he believes paying ransoms only endangers more Americans, and funds “the very terrorism we are trying to stop.”
Obama also had a message for the terrorist and criminal organizations who take people hostage. “We do not forget,” he warned. “Our reach is long; justice will be done.”
Even before Obama spoke Tuesday, critics took aim at the new policy as details of it leaked on Tuesday.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a member of the Armed Services Committee who has led legislative efforts to overhaul the government’s hostage policy, called it “pathetic” and “nothing more than window dressing.”
