Description:

Join us for an in-depth discussion on U.S. hostage recovery policy with Jon Alterman and Jason Rezaian, the co-directors of the Bipartisan Commission on Hostage Taking & Wrongful Detention. In 2023, the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) launched the commission to explore responses to the growing phenomenon of hostage taking. After two years of work, the commission is preparing to release their report with policy recommendations for U.S. hostage recovery policy, including ideas for strengthening international cooperation, improving the government’s engagement with hostage families and deterring future hostage taking.

Speakers

Jon Alterman is Senior Vice President, Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security & Geostrategy and Director of the Middle East Program at CSIS. He has previously served at the U.S. Department of State and has taught Middle Eastern studies and history at Johns Hopkins University, the George Washington University and Harvard University.

Jason Rezaian is the Director of Press Freedom Initiatives at The Washington Post and chair of the advisory board for the Press Freedom Center at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. He previously wrote for the Post’s Global Opinions section, and from 2012 to 2016, he served as the paper’s correspondent in Tehran. In July 2014, he was arrested by Iranian authorities and imprisoned until his release in January 2016. Rezaian’s memoir, Prisoner: My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison, was published in 2019 and he adapted the book as a nine-episode podcast.

The event will be moderated by Danielle Gilbert, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University and the sole academic to serve on the commission.

This event is co-sponsored by the Institute for Policy Research. A reception will follow the program.

Please note that 720 University Place is not an ADA-accessible space. Increasing physical access to buildings and facilities is a goal of the University, but not all buildings and venues have been updated.