#170: Negotiating With Terrorists - Special Presidential Envoy For Hostage Affairs Ambassador Roger Carstens

America maintains a promise to its citizens. A promise to never leave them behind and stop at nothing to return them to American soil. Over 200 Americans are wrongfully detained or taken hostage each year across the globe. The Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs is responsible for bringing them home. 

Ambassador Roger Carstens served as the SPEHA from 2020-2025. A West Point Graduate, Green Beret, Army Ranger, and seasoned security leader, Roger and his team brought home close to 70 Americans during his tenure; including high profile cases such as WNBA star Brittney Griner and Wall Street Journal Reporter Evan Gerskovich. 

Roger joined Fran Racioppi from the McCain Institute in Washington, DC for a conversation on the role of the SPEHA, why countries take Americans for leverage, and just how America negotiates with terrorists. 

We explore the effects of wrongful detention and hostage taking on America’s national power, how families are turned completely upside down, and why only a Warrior Diplomat has the character required to make deals with America’s adversaries.

Roger and Fran also share the mission of Hostage US; a non-profit instrumental in supporting hostages and wrongful detainees - and their families - through captivity, return and reintegration.

Watch, listen or read our conversation. Special thanks to the McCain Institute for hosting us and sharing their mission to defend and enhance human rights across the globe. 

Highlights

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:42 Welcome to the McCain Institute
• 5:23 What is the SPEHA?
• 8:53 Terrorists vs nation states
• 12:59 Deciding which cases
• 21:38 Negotiating with terrorists
• 24:38 Drawing the line
• 27:14 No negotiation approach
• 34:20 Family impact
• 41:00 Why Serve In The Army
• 50:05 Challenges In Transition
• 57:32 Hostage US Impact
• 1:00:47 Future of hostage security

Quotes

• “A hostage is someone held by a terrorist group. A wrongful detainee is someone held by a nation state.” 
• “Every case is different. There is no cookie cutter approach.”
• “It doesn’t matter if it’s a nation state or terrorist group, if they take you, you’re held hostage.”
• “You can never hand a bag of money to a terrorist group and say ‘we want our citizen back.’”
• “The United States does not negotiate with terrorists and yet I have.”
• “No one comes back when you call for their unconditional release.”
• “If we did not negotiate with Russia, they would just take Americans and you would see them stay 14, 15, 16 years there or they’d die in prison.”
• “We have to create new tools to be used to compel these countries to not take our citizens.”
• “If you want to stop evil. If you want to crush the next Adolf Hitler. Dial 1-800-USARMY.”
• “Every Green Beret will leave the service one day.”
• “If there’s not that higher mission where you’re allowed to serve and you don’t have that camaraderie, you’re going to have a hard time.”
• “If you have a mission you have to approach your next few steps differently than those who just want to be a thing or to have a job.” 
• “The hardest negotiation I ever did was with the US Government.”

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