WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The FBI will work to 鈥渮ero out鈥� the population of Americans detained or held hostage in foreign countries, said Thursday at a State Department ceremony honoring the hostage community and their families.
鈥淢y singular promise to you in this community is that I will do everything as the director of the FBI to marshal the resources necessary to make sure that no other American family feels that pain,鈥� he said during an event to observe the second-ever U.S. Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day.
Patel spoke as the Trump administration is working to bring home Americans from multiple countries, including and . The government is also trying to secure the release of remaining American hostages , with Adam Boehler, President pick to be special envoy for hostage affairs, leading direct talks with the militant group.
鈥淲e still don鈥檛 have everybody back," Patel said. 鈥淲hatever lawful authorities we have at the FBI, we are going to give 24/7, 365 days to make sure that we zero out this number and to make sure we prevent others from going into situations that you are now all too familiar with.鈥�
The FBI houses a multiagency fusion cell that handles hostage cases involving Americans in foreign countries. The State Department, meanwhile, relies on a special presidential envoy 鈥� the position for which Boehler has been tapped 鈥� to negotiate the release of Americans who are wrongfully detained.
鈥淲hen the president asked me if there was any job that I thought that I wanted to focus on," Boehler said Thursday, "I told him that this was the only one I would look at because I think there鈥檚 nothing more important for this country than for everyone to know that if they鈥檙e abroad and they鈥檙e taken, that the country has their back.鈥�
The Trump administration last month returned home , an American schoolteacher jailed in Russia on drug charges, as part of a prisoner swap with Moscow.
Eric Tucker, The Associated Press
