Hostage Working Group

Hostage Working Group was organized by the U.S. Department of State at the US Embassy in Baghdad in the summer of 2004 to monitor hostages in Iraq. Reported as meeting "weekly to bring together officials from the FBI, the Defense Department, the State Department and the Iraqi government. Officials do not publicly discuss the actions they can take against kidnappers."1

In an interview in the magazine, Talk Through, of the UK's Ministry of Defence Police, April/May 2005, PC Peter Anderson, who was working with the Hostage Working Group (HWG) describes himself as: "the only non-American in this 30-strong group."

Erik Rye was identified as the director of the Hostage Working Group at the US Embassy in Baghdad in an editorial 3 in the International Herald Tribune on May 17, 2006.

A statement issued September 7, 2006 by the White House 4 identified another group working out of the US Embassy in Baghdad, the Office of Hostage Affairs. It is unknown if this is a new group or an alternative name for the Hostage Working Group.