The number of Americans who are wrongfully held by state actors such as China, Iran and Russia has seen a dramatic increase compared to a decade ago, according to a new study that finds a growing list of nations are targeting U.S. nationals to exert political leverage over Washington.
The study, released Wednesday by the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, details how a practice once primarily carried out by terrorist organizations and other militant groups has increasingly become a tool of adversarial governments, resulting in the detention of everyone from WNBA star Brittney Griner in Russia to others like Marine Corps veteran Matthew Heath in Venezuela.
The analysis finds that at least 153 Americans have been wrongfully detained by state actors since 2001, a figure the study’s authors describe as an emerging threat to national security given the steep price foreign governments typically demand for a captive’s release.
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