US to consider 'radical shift' in hostage policy that will allow families to pay ransom

A National Counter-terrorism Centre advisory group, ordered by the White House, is set to suggest a key change in The United States' hostage policy that will stop authorities from prosecuting families of Americans who communicate with kidnappers abroad or raise funds to pay ransom.

One of three senior officials familiar with the hostage policy team's ongoing review said that there will be "absolutely zero" chance of any family member of an American who is being held hostage overseas ever facing jail themselves, or even the threat of prosecution, for trying to free their loved ones, reported ABC News.

The study was commissioned by the White House and involved interviewing families of hostages, including the parents of journalist James Foley, who was captured and beheaded by the Islamic State (IS) in Syria last year and whose family had claimed that they were repeatedly threatened by the administration officials with prosecution last summer for moving to raise millions of dollars in ransom demanded by the terror outfit.

The Obama administration had however, denied making any such threats.

Foley's mother, Diane, welcomed the potential policy shift by saying that the government was trying to "make it right in their way."

The change would mark a radical shift in the U.S. hostage policy.

A number of families had expressed outrage over U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's release a year ago when he was freed by the Haqqani Network in exchange for the release of five Taliban leaders held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison.

Army Lieutenant General Bennet Sacolick, who previously led the elite Delta Force counter-terrorism unit, is heading the hostage policy review team, along with his NCTC staff.