Global I.q. Minute With Jim Falk

When an American is taken hostage abroad, the crisis doesn’t end at the border – it ripples through families, institutions, and governments for months or years. Join us to explore how these cases unfold and how the U.S. government works to bring Americans home. Ambassador Roger D. Carstens, former U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, will draw on firsthand experience from some of the most high-profile hostage cases of recent years. He’ll shed light on how the U.S. government approaches hostage cases, what families experience behind the scenes, and what communities can learn from these crises. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Ambassador Roger D. Carstens served as the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the U.S. Department of State from 2020 to 2025. During his tenure, he orchestrated and led negotiations with the Taliban, Syria’s Assad Regime, Venezuela’s Maduro government, the People’s Republic of China, Russia, Belarus, and Foreign Terrorist Organizations such as Afghanistan’s Haqqani Net