While publicly maintaining a long-standing US policy of not
negotiating with terrorists or paying ransoms, the White House has
quietly ordered a review of relevant policies following a series of
executions of US citizens by Islamic State militants.
“This summer
President Obama directed relevant departments and agencies,
including the Departments of Defence and the State, the FBI, and
the Intelligence Community, to conduct a comprehensive review of
how the US government addresses these matters,” White House
National Security Council spokesman Alistair Baskey confirmed in
a statement.
Stating that White House’s goal is to use “every appropriate
resource within the bounds of the law”, Washington plans to
concentrate efforts on bringing hostages home “in light of
the increasing number of US citizens taken hostage by terrorist
groups overseas and the extraordinary nature of recent hostage
cases.”
The administration vowed to deploy “all appropriate military,
intelligence, law enforcement and diplomatic capabilities”
to aid the effort of hostage recovery, Baskey said. Meanwhile, White House press secretary Josh Earnest stressed that
the review will not include Washington's longstanding policy of
refusing to negotiate ransom.
“The President continues to believe as previous presidents
have concluded that it's not in the best interest of American
citizens to pay ransoms to any organization, let alone a
terrorist organization," Earnest said. “And the reason for that
is simple — we don't want to put other American citizens at even
greater risk when they're around the world.”
California Rep. Duncan Hunter in a letter to President Obama
Tuesday, wrote that “it is my firm belief that we are not
exhausting the full range of options,” to free US citizens
from captivity.
While the US considers paying ransoms akin to funding terrorism,
Hunter pointed at a case when the US tried to pay ransom through
intermediary to free Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from Taliban
captivity. After the money was stolen by an Afghan negotiator,
the Pentagon apparently resorted to an exchange of Bergdahl for
five Taliban inmates from Guantanamo Bay.
“There are a lot of ways the issue on monetary incentives
could be handled, including options that don't require paying
captors. But we need to make sure there is a better understanding
on this front, specifically for the people who are tasked with
recovering Americans in hostile areas,” Hunter spokesman Joe
Kasper said. On Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry defended the US
hostage policy that under the Patriot Act prohibits any payment
or assistance to terror groups.
“And as for kidnapping, the United States has set a
heart-rending but absolutely necessary example by refusing to pay
ransom for captured Americans,” Kerry said during a 3rd
Annual Transformational Trends Policy conference in the US
capital.
“Last year, the UN Security Council and the G-8 firmly
endorsed an identical policy, and all of the evidence shows that
where and if a country is paid a ransom, there are many more
people who are taken hostage,” Kerry said.
