Hostage families need more transparency into recovery efforts, says slain journalist's mother

Chris Teale

March 15, 2024

Families of Americans taken hostage abroad need more visibility into the sometimes “opaque” efforts to bring their relatives home, the mother of slain journalist James Foley said at a Headliners book event Wednesday at the National Press Club.

Diane Foley, founder of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, said it's too easy for cases to get miired in bureaucracy. Photo: Peter West

Diane Foley, whose son was captured by ISIS in 2012 and beheaded two years later, said much progress has been made, as more than 100 U.S. nationals have returned since James was murdered. The State Department now has a Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, and the FBI has stood up its Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, among other governmental efforts.

Despite progress, Foley said it is still too easy for cases to get mired at the State Department and the FBI, and too difficult to access White House officials who can make the crucial decisions needed to help bring a hostage home. Foley said advocacy in the press can also help make further changes.

“We need to hold our government accountable for the people,” Foley said. “This is what the power of the press and storytelling is.”

Pavel Butorin, director of Current Time TV & Digital Network in the Czech Republic and his family at Wednesday's event. Photo: Peter West

Several journalists are currently held hostage abroad, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was unlawfully detained on March 29, 2023 and has spent nearly a year in prison in Moscow, and Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), who was unlawfully detained in Kazan, Russia on Oct. 18. Kurmasheva's husband, Pavel Butorin, director of Current Time TV & Digital Network in the Czech Republic, attended the event with the couple's daughters.

In her book, “American Mother,” Foley described spending three days at a Virginia jail in conversations with Alexanda Kotey, a British jihadist and one of her son’s killers. Kotey was captured in Syria, extradited to the U.S. and pleaded guilty to his crimes. Foley said she saw that experience as a chance for them both to hear each other’s stories and perspectives.

Foley said today’s hostage recovery efforts are a far cry from when her son was captured in Syria while working for the Global Post. She recalled coming to Washington “very ignorant” about hostage taking and was “literally sent in circles” as there was little formal government response.

And she recounted only being told three months before James’ death by a National Security Council official that they would no longer work to bring him home. At first, Foley said she was angry, but grew to appreciate the honesty as, until that point, government officials had said rescuing him was their top priority.

Foley said U.S. officials treated James as “collateral damage” amid the country’s various foreign policy considerations.

“I felt as an American that we could do better,” she said. “We need to have the backs of our brave journalists, diplomats, businessmen who go out in the world doing good work. We could do better as a nation.”

Emily Wilkins, president of the National Press Club, presents Diane Foley with a souvenir Press Club mug. Photo: Peter West

Foley also said government officials must “be more creative” and use every available tool to bring hostages home, including using the promise of ransom payments as “lure” to get captors out in the open. And she said a willingness to negotiate through third-party countries will continue to stand the U.S. in good stead.

But she warned that the use of hostages as bargaining chips will only continue to grow, not only by terrorists but also by nation states. Stronger international partnerships and cooperation can act as a deterrent, she said, as can finding ways to “make it hurt” their captors.