Spy Chat with Chris Costa | Guest: Ambassador Roger D. Carstens

Join us for an online discussion of the latest intelligence, national security, and terrorism issues in the news. Spy Museum Executive Director Chris Costa leads the briefing and this week, he was joined by Ambassador Roger D. Carstens who serves as the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the US Department of State.

Carstens is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the US Department of State, where he oversaw the Bureau’s work in Near Eastern Affairs, Western Hemisphere Affairs, and the Office of Security and Human Rights. Previously, he served in Amman, Jordan, as the Country Director for a US-based INGO that provided humanitarian assistance and stability support to Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons.

Prior positions include Senior Civilian Advisor on the Commander’s Advisory and Assistance Team (CAAT) in Afghanistan; Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security; and Special Assistant for Legislative Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Carstens is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel who served in Special Forces and the 1st Ranger Battalion.

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[aarondanis]

The U.S. needs to do more to dry up the supply of hostages/detainees. I know the State Department has strengthened the language in its travel guidance and warnings (which most travelers probably don't know exist, much less read), but the U.S. needs to ban U.S. business and commercial work with Russia and China if their policies are to take businessmen as political pawns. Why are Americans (especially dual citizens) still traveling to Iran? They might as well wear big "detain me" hats on their heads.

[-danR]

omg, the video after this one finally has a real interview on a real stage and all the audio working properly and...

... _they turn off comments!_

You can't even complement them after they finally got the boat righted.

[VarnerRuth]

Wow! Excellent interview. I learned a lot.🙂

[lindabrown]

25 min mark, the hair girl smiling... just nothing of substance here. Over and out. Sad, used to be a good site!

[lindabrown]

Okay, I'll bite. Keep hoping the site will get better. So like 9 min. in, still listening to blah, blah, blah. Come on!