Washington D.C. – The Poblete Dispatches, June 11, 2025
A report was recently published by the CSIS Commission on Combating State Hostage Taking and Wrongful Detention, a nearly two-year effort that brought together a diverse group of people—former hostages, national security professionals, diplomats, journalists, academics, and others.
I was part of that group. While we didn’t agree on everything, the process surfaced critical perspectives on an issue that’s often mischaracterized in the public square. Wrongful detention and hostage diplomacy are not Hollywood thrillers or social media events. These are complex, usually painful cases, typically involving Americans or U.S. legal residents detained under suspicious circumstances abroad, only to be used as political pawns.
Unfortunately, media narratives and even some government messaging tend to glamorize or oversimplify these situations. This report was an opportunity to bring some sobriety to the discussion. You’ll find the full report linked at the end of this post. Below are some thoughts on what we observed and how they relate to my experiences in my private legal practice.
Some foreign governments are detaining Americans and U.S. legal residents not because they’ve necessarily broken any laws, but because doing so offers that foreign government political leverage. This is happening in real time. In some of the most egregious examples, regimes like Iran, Russia, and Venezuela have held Americans without trial or due process, just long enough to extract concessions, or in legal processes that amount to show trials.
Most governments are strategic, while others operate on an ad hoc basis. Officials from allies and adversaries alike utilize their legal systems to target American foreign policy interests, as well as American businesses and executives. They understand the political sensitivity, public pressure, and media heat these cases generate, and they exploit it.
As journalist Jason Rezaian, who spent 544 days imprisoned in Iran, put it in the CSIS report: “Hostage taking is a uniquely cruel and unfair act that international law considers a form of terrorism.” It’s not just a legal issue. It’s a national security issue. And a moral one.
