GOP lawmaker decries ‘window dressing’ changes to hostage rules

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is trashing President Obama’s proposed changes to U.S. policy on overseas hostages as little more than “window dressing.” 

“The changes offered up by the White House prove that neither the right questions were asked nor were any lessons learned,” Hunter, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday in a statement. “Wholesale changes are needed, but what’s being put forward is nothing more than window dressing, I fear.”

“It’s a pathetic response to a serious problem that has plagued the ability of the U.S. to successfully recover Americans held captive in the post-9/11 era,” he added.

The White House earlier Tuesday said the federal government would, among other things, no longer threaten criminal prosecutions against American families who attempt to pay ransoms to extremist groups holding their relatives hostage.

The administration will also create a new office inside the FBI, dubbed a hostage recovery fusion cell, to coordinate response efforts with the families.

Obama will make the changes through an executive order and presidential directive. He will deliver a speech about the alterations Wednesday as well as meet with hostages’ families who participated in the administration’s months-long review of the policy, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday.

That review kicked off last year after the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) released several grisly videos showing the beheading of American captives.

Hunter, who introduced a bill earlier this year that would put a single official in charge of hostage release efforts, said placing the fusion cell inside the FBI was a mistake, as the agency isn’t equipped to handle hostage crises around the globe.

He argued the Defense Department, “with its assets, intel and global reach,” should be in the lead.

“Among all the issues I believed the White House could get right, this was one. I was wrong,” Hunter said.

“This is all very unfortunate — and while I have hope we can be successful, which we are sure to be from time to time, what’s needed is a hostage recovery policy that works for every American held captive in hostile areas.  The changes put forward show that there’s still a lot of work to do,” he added.