In 2014, the world looked on in horror as ISIS murdered its American hostages in Syria. The beheadings were among the most widely followed news stories in recent history; more than nine out of 10 Americans had heard of them by September of 2014. ¹ The ISIS cases were the latest in a long history of international hostage-taking incidents. Since 2001—the year of the 9/11 attacks—at least 1,185 Westerners from 32 countries have been taken hostage overseas by terrorist, militant, and pirate groups.
Some of the families of the Americans abducted and murdered by ISIS have questioned the...
According to a database compiled by New America from public sources, since 2001, American hostages taken captive by terrorist, militant, and pirate groups have been more than twice as likely to remain in captivity, die in captivity, or be murdered by their captors as the average Western hostage. Forty-three percent of American hostages died, remain in captivity, or remain unaccounted for, compared to an average of 19 percent for all Westerners.⁵
A majority of murdered Western hostages are American or British. Of the 90 Western hostages murdered by their captors between 2001 and 2016, 41 (45 percent) were American and...
The original dataset was given to New America by Hostage US, an independent nonprofit organization that supports hostages and their families. Funding for Hostage US’ research was provided by the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation. Hostage US is not involved in efforts to secure the release of hostages and is not involved in advising on negotiations or raising ransoms. It supports the need for informed policy debates but is not engaged in policy analysis or advocacy. This report does not represent the views of Hostage US, its staff, or board of directors. The Hostage US dataset was aggregated from press...
The evidence suggests that for some hostage takers, particularly jihadist terrorist groups, this is indeed the case. Christian Chesnot, a French reporter kidnapped in Iraq in 2004 and held for four months before being released, asked his captors if he would have been treated the same way if he were American or British. According to Chesnot, they replied that as a journalist you “represent your country. So are you [sic] French, even if you are journalist, you are representing your country. If you’re American, British, you are representing your country. It means Blair and Bush policy, and so you are...
A common objection to ransom payments is that they incentivize terrorist groups to kidnap more citizens of the ransom-paying country. In 2012, David Cohen, then the U.S. Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, asserted: “We know that hostage takers looking for ransoms distinguish between those governments that pay ransoms and those that do not—and make a point of not taking hostages from those countries that do not pay ransoms.”31 Uncritical acceptance of this claim is surprisingly common, given the lack of empirical evidence to support it.
That hostage takers choose their victims on the basis of nationality...
The clearest risk of paying ransom is that it can help terrorist groups expand and fund their activities. In 2012, David Cohen, then the U.S. Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, warned of al-Qaeda’s growing strength in Mali and Yemen, stating: “At the root of their strength is the money they have amassed, including, importantly, through kidnapping for ransom.”44 Nasir al-Wuhayshi, then the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), confirmed the importance of ransoms to AQAP, writing that almost half of the group’s budget came from hostage taking.45 Al-Wuhayshi also described kidnapping as a “profitable trade...
If freeing the hostage was the only concern, the policy solution would be clear. Acceding to the demands of the hostage taker almost invariably leads to the release of the hostage. There are some cases, however, where granting the concession cannot be seriously considered, such as when a hostage taker demands a political concession that would damage the national interest. In most cases, however, the concession sought will be money, the release of prisoners, or both. In these cases, there are three primary considerations that inform the decision to make or reject the concession sought. The first consideration is the...
