Jul 21, 2026 · 1 hr 12 min · 12 segments
Stan talks with Roger Carstens, former U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and ex–Army Ranger/Special Forces officer, about high-stakes hostage negotiations and the realities of…
Roger CarstensGuestStan ChristensenHostAnd, and some of the listeners won't even know about this, but there is an office, uh, at the highest levels of the government, um, called the Office of Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, which starting in two thousand and fifteen, you ran.
the principal negotiator for the American government to get hostages out of people who were detained abroad.
So, uh, we failed horribly in s- trying to get Americans back from the conflict in Syria.
It looks like the Brits, the Italians, the French, you know, they all got their hostages, but we didn't because we refused to talk to the ho- the, the hostage takers.
You know, family members would call the US Department of State and say, "My family, my loved one, my son was just taken as a hostage by ISIS in Syria.
Can you help me?" And there was no central point, and so they'd get passed around the State Department, passed over to the White House, thrown over to the Department of Defense, and if they ever talked to someone who kind of knew what was going on, what they'd often hear is, "I can't tell you what's happening because it's classified." Which at times is government speak for "We're doing nothing, and I don't wanna embarrass myself by telling you that we're doing nothing."
And so President Obama, in the wake of that, conducted a hostage policy review, and he came to the conclusion that we needed a hostage negotiator to talk to countries.
Another group of people, uh, that was to be headquartered at the FBI called the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, to focus on, uh, people that were taken by terrorist groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
And then another group at the White House to kind of bring us all together to make decisions and, and, and press forward.
So in 2015, my office was created along with the other two entities, one at the White House and one at the FBI, and then it was just a process of trying to slowly build capability and really the know-how to get the job done.
Um, you brought up the issue of we weren't engaging with the, with the hostage takers, and one thing you hear, and I think it might have even started with President Reagan, "We do not negotiate with hostage takers," or, "We do not negotiate with terrorists." I guess I have a little bit different perspective.
There's no way to solve a problem without engagement, even if you don't respect, even if you don't like, even if you don't trust the other side, I think it always makes sense to engage.
And, and some of the listeners won't even know about this, but there is an office, uh, at the highest levels of the government, um, called the Office of Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, which starting in two thousand and fifteen, you ran.
the principal negotiator for the American government to get hostages out of people who were detained abroad.
So, uh, we failed horribly in s- trying to get Americans back from the conflict in Syria.
It looks like the Brits, the Italians, the French, you know, they all got their hostages, but we didn't because we refused to talk to the ho- the, the hostage takers.
You know, family members would call the US Department of State and say, "My family, my loved one, my son was just taken as a hostage by ISIS in Syria.
Can you help me?" And there was no central point, and so they'd get passed around the State Department, passed over to the White House, thrown over to the Department of Defense, and if they ever talked to someone who kind of knew what was going on, what they'd often hear is, "I can't tell you what's happening because it's classified." Which at times is government speak for "We're doing nothing, and I don't wanna embarrass myself by telling you that we're doing nothing."
And so President Obama, in the wake of that, conducted a hostage policy review, and he came to the conclusion that we needed a hostage negotiator to talk to countries.
Another group of people, uh, that was to be headquartered at the FBI called the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, to focus on, uh, people that were taken by terrorist groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
And then another group at the White House to kind of bring us all together to make decisions and, and, and press forward.
So in 2015, my office was created along with the other two entities, one at the White House and one at the FBI, and then it was just a process of trying to slowly build capability and really the know-how to get the job done.
Um, you brought up the issue of we weren't engaging with the, with the hostage takers, and one thing you hear, and I think it might have even started with President Reagan, "We do not negotiate with hostage takers," or, "We do not negotiate with terrorists." I guess I have a little bit different perspective.
There's no way to solve a problem without engagement, even if you don't respect, even if you don't like, even if you don't trust the other side, I think it always makes sense to engage.
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