News: President Obama orders a hostage policy review in light of ISIS

President Obama has ordered a top-to-bottom review of how the U.S. government tries to win the release of Americans held hostage by terrorist groups overseas. The review, which will include a specific emphasis on how the U.S. treats hostages’ family members, follows criticism that current hostage-negotiation operations are plagued by bureaucratic infighting and a lack of leadership, particularly by the White House.

The review was prompted “as a result of the increased frequency of hostage-taking of Americans overseas,” Christine Wormuth, the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and one of the Pentagon’s most senior officials, informed Rep. Duncan Hunter in a letter last week (PDF). Hunter sits on the House Armed Services Committee and has been pressing the administration to do more to free Americans held by ISIS and other terrorist groups. Wormuth said the president had ordered the review “recently,” but she didn’t specify when.

On Sunday, ISIS released its latest video showing the beheading of one of its American captives, Peter Kassig. The group is holding one more American, a 26-year-old woman who was kidnapped in Syria last year while delivering aid to Syrians affected by the country's brutal civil war. The brutal series of beheading videos has been a persistent reminder that the U.S. faces an implacable enemy, even as it steps up airstrikes on ISIS positions in Syria and Iraq. President Obama took heat for playing a round of golf on Martha’s Vineyard after the first video showing the beheading of journalist James Foley aired in August.

President Obama directed relevant departments and agencies, including the Departments of Defense and State, the FBI, and the Intelligence Community, to conduct a comprehensive review of how the U.S. government addresses these matters,” said Alistair Baskey, a spokesperson for the National Security Council. “While we are not in a position to detail every effort or every tool we are using to try to bring American hostages home, we will continue to bring all appropriate military, intelligence, law enforcement, and diplomatic capabilities to bear to recover American hostages. Those efforts continue every day.”