The Foley Flame: Illuminating Updates

March 4, 2024

A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT & FOUNDER

Dearest Friends,

It has been 10 years since Jim’s horrific murder and the start of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation. In honor of our 10th anniversary, we welcome you to the first edition of the Foley Flame, our news brief. Our new logo, designed by Jim’s childhood friend Brian Oakes, depicts helping hands as a flame of hope, symbolizing a light amid the darkness of captivity, the truth that brave journalists dare to bring us while under threat, and the light within challenging all of us to act with moral courage. The colors of yellow, gold and black were chosen to align with the new U.S. Hostage/Wrongful Detainee flag, which unites Americans that work together to free U.S. nationals held captive abroad. While much remains to be done, all of the progress noted below is due to YOU, who have so faithfully journeyed with us. We are forever grateful!

Deepest gratitude and love,

Diane

Diane M. Foley

HOSTAGE ADVOCACY

The Foley Foundation’s advocacy, which spurred the creation of the U.S. government’s hostage enterprise in 2015, has contributed to the return of more than 100 Americans from captivity since Jim’s murder in 2014 including over a dozen freed in the last six months from Iran and Venezuela.

In 2022 President Biden signed an Executive Order declaring international hostage taking and wrongful detention a national security emergency. The Foundation had long advocated for many of the provisions contained in it, including additional accountability measures for captors of U.S. nationals.

Our 2023 Bringing Americans Home report identified critical gaps in support for returnees and family members. Subsequently, in December 2023, Congress passed legislation that provides families of wrongful detainees with travel funds to advocate for their loved ones in D.C. as well as health services for returned hostages.

Congress declared March 9, the date of Robert Levinson’s kidnapping in Iran, as National Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day. On this day, every year, we will remember Robert and all the other innocent Americans that were and are held captive abroad.

Along with the official day, the Hostage/Wrongful Detainee Flag was adopted as a national symbol (like the POW/MIA flag). Its yellow and black design is mirrored in our new logo. Hostage families, including those of the Bring Our Families Home Campaign, as well as artists and advocates collaborated to create it.

Despite this progress, much work remains to be done.

There are 56 public cases of innocent U.S. nationals held captive abroad.

After the attacks by Hamas on October 7, several Americans are still being held in Gaza. These kidnappings - perpetrated in a single day - dramatically reversed a recent trend toward fewer hostages held by non-state actors.

Please see the news roundup section below to learn more about our advocacy efforts.

Hostage & Wrongful Detainee Day

The McCain Institute and the Foley Foundation will host two events on March 8 and March 13 to observe the Nation's inaugural Hostage & Wrongful Detainee Day. These events will focus on the experiences of hostages and their families and examine policy and legislative successes and failures since 2015.

LEARN MORE

JOURNALIST SAFETY EDUCATION

Program Director Tom Durkin and board member David Levinson collaborated with Teach for All to develop a safety guide for their international network of teachers serving under-resourced communities.

The Foundation is partnering with the University of Texas at Austin to survey faculty and students in journalism and communications schools at U.S. colleges and universities to establish a baseline for how (or if) journalist safety is taught. The data we gather will identify opportunities for targeted improvements, enabling all schools to raise the bar on journalist safety education.

Instructors at over 20 U.S. colleges and universities have incorporated resources from the Foundation’s Journalist Safety Modules into their courses. The Foundation also partnered with the Samir Kassir Foundation to share our journalism safety modules with 11 instructors at four Lebanese universities.

In the past two years, our partnership with Head Set Immersive used virtual reality scenarios to train 80 journalists, with an additional 30 slated to participate in 2024. These simulations, supported by Foundation curricula, prepare professionals for extreme risks.

AMERICAN MOTHER

American Mother, by Colum McCann and Diane Foley, is Diane’s heart-rending story of confronting Jim’s killer and getting to the elemental heart of violence and forgiveness. Available widely on March 5, signed copies of the book are also available with a small donation.

PRE-ORDER

Public events and book signings are planned in Washington, New York, and Boston in conjunction with the book launch.

UPCOMING EVENTS

THE JAMES W. FOLEY FREEDOM AWARDS

Please join us on May 1 for our annual Foley Freedom Awards event celebrating the moral courage of those who continue Jim’s brave legacy in government, journalism, and humanitarian work.

The dinner and awards ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington will include a special performance by Sting, award-winning composer, singer-songwriter, actor, author, and activist, who will sing “The Empty Chair,” the song he composed in honor of Jim.