The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) recently announced the launch of a bipartisan commission aimed to tackle the growing hostage-taking crisis in the U.S.
Addressing the rising concern of hostage-taking incidents, CSIS launched its Commission on Hostage Taking and Wrongful Detention, according to a June 1 news release.
"At a time when Americans are divided on many issues, we are 100% united on the proposition that our countrymen and women held captive in foreign lands should be returned home immediately. Our bipartisan effort on this front must succeed," Robert O'Brien, commission co-chair and national security adviser to former President Donald Trump, said in the release.
The commission will meet for the next 18 months to propose new U.S. policies, the release reported. The commission consists of returned hostages, hostage family members, former law enforcement and national security officials, diplomats, academics and journalists.
The release highlights a study from the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation that reports an estimated 580% increase in the number of U.S. nationals wrongfully held overseas from 2012 to 2022. The study shows a staggering 175% increase in the number of U.S. nationals wrongfully detained in the past decade.
In addition, alarming statistics about hostage-taking and wrongful detention involving U.S. nationals showed nearly half of the U.S. nationals currently held hostage have been in captivity for more than five years, the study reported.
Drawing from his personal experience, Jason Rezaian expressed concern over the growing number of Americans held hostage abroad, the release reported. He had been held for more than a year in Iran serving as Tehran bureau chief for The Washington Post.
"Bringing leaders in all aspects of hostage recovery together to develop new ways of addressing this old problem is our effort to attempt to stop it from spiraling out of control," Rezaian said in the release.
"This bipartisan commission brings together advocates, journalists, government officials and outside experts to help sharpen U.S. policy and actions to ensure the safe return of all Americans and put an end to the use of Americans as political tools of our adversaries," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., co-chair of the commission, said in the release.
