On Tuesday, President Joe Biden met with the families of American hostages held in foreign countries, signaling his readiness to prioritize a policy of hostage recovery and calling for greater support and resources to help them.
Biden’s meeting with fourteen families of American citizens held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad took place at the White House, aiming to unite their stories and share compassion for their plight.
The meetings included the families of everyone from Austin Tice, an American journalist held in Syria since August 2012, to Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent believed to have been abducted in Iran in 2007 and held there.
During the meetings, President Biden expressed his deep sympathy for the families’ anguish over their loved ones being held overseas by saying “Your loved ones are not forgotten,” and “It’s our obligation to make sure we are doing all we possibly can.”
He discussed his commitment to rescuing every American whose life is threatened abroad, as well as for developing a policy that better serves hostage and detainee families and establishes an interagency hostage recovery center.
The meetings come after Biden’s March directive to review the administration’s policies and procedures on bringing home American citizens captured or wrongfully detained abroad. The administration is also seeking to reorganize hostage recovery operations and strengthen the diplomatic and intelligence support for hostage cause.
In addition to Biden’s support for their cause, the families were encouraged by the Biden administration’s renewed attention to the hostage issue.
Ben McKay, the father of Jade Hameister, an Australian-American held captive in China for 180 days concluded the meeting by noting, “The families of hostages around the world have been given hope where little hope was seen before.”
For some hostages, Biden’s initiative might finally be the help they need to bring them home to reunite with their families. Regardless of the solutions, it is clear that the Biden administration is devoted to making it a priority to ensure any American held abroad is brought back to safety.
