'To us every day counts': How top diplomat works to get hostages like Lombard's Frerichs home
Roger Carstens has a simple definition for a job that is anything but.
"Our job is to bring Americans back," the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs explained.
Recent efforts by Carstens and his staff helped secure the releases of Lombard native Mark Frerichs from the Taliban, basketball star Brittney Griner from Russia and the "Citgo 6," oil executives imprisoned in Venezuela.
"When we take a case, we put our foot on the gas, try to get the car up to 110 miles an hour, and we never take our foot off," Carstens told the Daily Herald.
"Every day someone's not home in the United States, they might suffer a medical tragedy, they might be injured by another prisoner, they might get COVID-19. To us, every day counts."
Carstens is a veteran diplomat and retired Army lieutenant colonel who served in the Special Forces. He was appointed to his position at the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, part of the State Department, in 2020.
The office is "responsible for the diplomatic coordination of bringing back Americans who were wrongfully detained. (That) means a person taken prisoner by a nation state, like Russia, or Americans taken hostage by a terrorist group like ISIS," he said.
In addition, they partner with families and keep them informed. When "we have a case, we call that family every week or more. We fly out to see them," Carstens said. "I just came back from Texas, where I spent the weekend with Katherine Swidan, whose son (Mark Swidan) is imprisoned in China."
"The last thing we really do is try to work on a deterrence strategy so in the next 10 to 15 years, this problem goes away and they dismantle my office."
Typically, Carstens and his team are troubleshooting 30 to 40 cases at a time.
Frerichs, a civil engineer and former Navy diver, was taken by Taliban forces after a car crash Jan. 31, 2020, in Afghanistan.
Frerichs tried to escape twice early in his capture, once ambushing a guard when he feared imminent death. He spent nearly 32 months in dirt-floor cells, suffering beatings and was constantly shackled.
Frerichs was released Sept. 19, 2022, in exchange for convicted Afghan drug lord Bashir Noorzai. He is acclimating to life back in the U.S.
"He's a fighter," said Carstens, who accompanied Frerichs on his flight from Afghanistan. "A lot of people would not do that. They'd be paralyzed with indecision and fear. Mark saw an opportunity and took it."
Since January 2021, 26 Americans in captivity have been brought home, Carstens said, adding Frerichs' situation raised some formidable challenges.
"The U.S. government spent a lot of time trying to find ways to bring him home, whether it was through trying to consider military options, whether it was trying to push on diplomatic channels," he recounted.
Frerichs was being held by the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network in remote locations, and it was "hard to find him ... where he was actually being held."
He characterized the Taliban as "tough negotiators. It took a lot of time to come to an accommodation that linked what they wanted with what we were able to give," he said.
Carstens credited two powerful voices for pushing the government to persist: Frerichs' sister, Charlene, and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Hoffman Estates Democrat.
"I told Mark: 'Your sister was like a bulldog. She grabbed onto this and did not let go, and did not hesitate - when she felt things were not moving fast enough - to hold members of the U.S. government accountable.'"
Meanwhile, Duckworth worked the executive branch of government all the way up to President Joe Biden, advocating for her fellow veteran and constituent, Carstens said.
"It was good to know that a member of Capitol Hill was really willing to put a lot of heartfelt effort into Mark's return," he said.
After Frerichs, the office pivoted to releases of the Citgo 6 in October and Griner in December. In March, their caseload grew when Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia.
Asked what it feels like when he's flying to meet and escort a hostage home, Carstens said: "When you're doing it, it's so workmanlike. There's so many things to be worrying about logistically with planes, last-minute diplomatic things, security ... maybe high-risk situations.
"Then you get to spend a quiet period with the person, be it Mark Frerichs, Brittney Griner or Trevor Reed (a former Marine imprisoned in Russia). And, you get to actually share in the moment and talk to them and invest in them and listen to them and give them their first contact with ... an American that they've had in a long time. That is just priceless."
Also unforgettable is seeing a former prisoner walk into the arms of a family member, Carstens said.
Then, however, the pressure of other cases intrudes. "In seconds - right before you can even pop champagne and celebrate - you're picking up 43 emails on the next two or three cases that are hot."