The former hostage has had the very foundation of their beliefs, assumptions and priorities upended. Working out who you are, what matters, and processing the regrets you’ve allowed to surface – that’s a piece of the reintegration puzzle we need to talk about more.
I recently came across this piece in the New York Times Magazine by Doug Bock Clark, whose work on Americans in trouble overseas I have come to respect and admire. He describes the plight of Americans held in Kuwait –… Read More ›
Bellingcat have been key players in solving puzzles related to some of the most important intelligence challenges of the last decade; chemical attacks in Syria, the downing of Malaysia Flight 17 over the Ukraine and the Salisbury poisonings, to name just a few.
Do they replace our intelligence agencies? No, of course not. Should they make those agencies think again about what’s possible and how to make the most of open source data? Absolutely.
Reflecting on the lessons I’ve learned from the former hostages I’ve gotten to known, here are six secrets of resilience to help get us all through a difficult winter ahead.
I rarely re-read a book, but when a dear friend returned my copy of A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, I just couldn’t resist. It’s perhaps my favorite novel of all time. Maybe. But definitely the only ‘hostage’ story… Read More ›
Throughout the Presidential campaign, you told us this the soul of the nation was on the ballot. As President, your most important job is to protect Americans. How you treat American hostages and their families will tell us a lot about your values as Commander in Chief.
I like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens as much as the next child of the 1980s, having spent every Christmas holiday re-watching Julie Andrews bring joy and music to the Austrian Alps. I never planned my viewing in… Read More ›
I hope today can feel like a new day. I am up early, blinds drawn, sipping coffee from my favorite mug, the sun peeping over the foliage outside my window and landing on my tired face. I slept fitfully last… Read More ›
Duty and obligation are virtues, but we must not forget that duty to yourself is the most important duty of all – and imagined and self-fabricated duty can be highly corrosive.
“For the first time in my life, I have shed ‘survivor’ or ‘victim’ as my identity. I was having to survive on being a ‘survivor’, because that’s how I was making money, speaking about what happened to me. Now I… Read More ›
