WASHINGTON — (CNN) The Obama administration’s review of its hostage policy is nearing completion and is expected to be released this month, according to a senior administration official. The review results will prompt “critical” changes to the way the government is organized to respond when an American is taken hostage overseas, the source said.
The review was launched in December — a directive from President Barack Obama — in part due to the criticism the administration has received from the families of previous American hostages who have said the outreach from the government had been inconsistent and at times insensitive.
In the six months since, a 70-person team, cobbled from members of the Departments of Defense, State, Justice, Treasury and the intelligence community have been huddling to provide recommendations to the President on where the government’s hostage policy can be improved.
The review is not yet complete.
But a senior administration official described a number of organizational changes the administration is leaning towards in an effort to improve the administration’s response in a more rapid, coordinated way.
Among the considerations is the creation of a Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell: a group that would operate as a full-time, interagency body with the goal of being the coordinating body for the U.S. government’s response to hostage-takings. It would include the appointment of a director who would be responsible for overseeing hostage recovery strategies.
While there have been calls from some on Capitol Hill for the administration to appoint a so-called hostage-czar, the administration does not seem keen on doing so.
Instead of appointing one person to be responsible wholly for the government’s efforts, the administration seems to be favoring spreading out the responsibility, appointing several point people in key areas, in addition to the director of the “fusion cell.”
Among them, would be the creation of two new positions within the government: a family engagement coordinator who would be the point person for the families of the hostages, and the designation of a senior representative from the State Department for diplomatic outreach abroad.
The review process has relied heavily on the input of former hostages and their families conducting over 40 interviews with 24 families and former hostages and three rounds of feedback.
The administration also consulted with five intermediaries, three international organizations, two hostage experts and four foreign countries.
The administration official says the administration has observed a “significant shift” in hostage-takings abroad by terrorists and criminal groups, requiring the policy to also evolve with new and more pronounced challenges.
“Terrorist groups have become increasingly willing to engage in publicized and repugnant murders of hostages if they are unable to extract concessions,” the administration official said. “They deliberately target private citizens as well as government officials to garner media attention and attempt to extract political and financial concessions.”
The administration has a long-standing policy of the government making no concessions, including paying randsoms, to hostage-takers, which White House press secretary Josh Earnest has been adamant is not part of this review.
“We have made clear that our policy about not paying ransom to hostage-takers, to terrorists, not making concessions to them is a policy that’s not going to change — it is not part of the ongoing policy review, ” Earnest said last month.
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