Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs

Her career has spanned health care, but also finance and international development and lots of public service.

So most recently in government, Rachel served as chief of staff in the State Department's Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.

where she participated in sensitive negotiations involving wrongfully detained Americans, including negotiations with the Taliban, and supported efforts that reunited more than 70 U.S. citizens with their families.

Congratulations.

They have this...

You know, they have a department called the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, and so it's called SPEHA for short, and they have all these officials who staff it, work with families.

And so I was met by a SPEHA official on the plane, uh, and he goes, "You know, but the CIA is overseeing the swap, uh, and they banned drinking before you meet the president."

[laughs] Yes.

Welcome back, America.

I'm Hugh Hewitt, joined by Ambassador Robert C. O'Brien, formerly President Trump's National Security Advisor in his first term, as well as his Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.

But before Robert was anything in the Trump administration, he was an advocate for a strong, robust Navy, writing about While America Slept.

Uh, Robert, what do you think when you see a shipyard, uh, being open for business, one that hasn't been open for business in decades?

It's on demand at the Salem News Channel app.

All you have to do is find The Erin Milan Show on the YouTube page as well, or at snc.tv.

Ambassador O'Brien, I know that you were-- Uh, you got along well with the French when you were the national security advisor and when you were the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.

You always get along well with the French.

My guest today is a distinguished senior fellow in the McCain Institute's Freedom for the Political Prisoners Initiative.

Between 2020 and 2025, he served as the United States Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs under Presidents Trump and Biden, bringing home over 65 Americans from captivity abroad.

Prior to that, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, focusing on issues in the Middle East and South America.

He has also served in the U.S. Army.

Instead, I wanted a mission.

And that mission was to take care of people who are most vulnerable and see if I could alleviate the pain and suffering that they're going through.

Well, let's talk about the different ways in which you've done that over the years and your role as a US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.

You took up the post in 2020, year four of President Trump's first term.

And that's very emotional.

Please join us next week for the first episode with Roger Carstens, former United States Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.

as he shares the inside story of negotiating the release of Americans Helped Captive Abroad, and the lessons he learned about finding the key to the cell.

And if you'd like to learn more about what happened at the Oslo Forum this year, read the full report on our website at osloforum.org.

I'm doing all right.

This is Roger Carstens, a former Special Forces soldier turned America's Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.

I first interviewed him at the Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus just after the regime fell.

He was there with the US delegation searching for Austin.

Days before the measures were introduced, the administration issued its own warning about the two cases.

On September 9, the Office of the President's Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs pointed to Chen and Min Xin while urging Americans to take the State Department's China Travel Advisory seriously.

The risks outlined in the China Travel Advisory are not hypothetical, the office said.