America’s Top Hostage Envoy Pursues Freedom for Detained U.S. Citizens in Increasingly Hostile World

When a hostile foreign nation or group releases an imprisoned U.S. citizen, the first American to welcome them home is typically Washington’s hostage deal maker in chief, Roger D. Carstens.

The special presidential envoy for hostage affairs was on a tarmac Dec. 8 in the United Arab Emirates to meet Brittney Griner when she arrived on a Russian plane after almost 10 months in captivity. Mr. Carstens told the freed basketball star that he was there to escort her home on behalf of President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to a senior Biden administration official.