On Monday at 0700, find Episode 136 of The Afghanistan Project on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Podcasts.
My guest is Kieran Ramsey, Chief Investigative Officer at Global Reach.
Kieran talks about the support Global Reach provides to the families of those wrongfully detained by overseas regimes, and discusses the Taliban's long practice of using hostages to achieve their own goals inside Afghanistan.
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We also discuss the current situation for hostages wrongfully held in Iran, whose conditions are unknown in the current conflict.
About Kieran Ramsey:
During a 32-year career in federal law enforcement and the U.S. Intelligence Community, Kieran Ramsey spearheaded massive investigations including the Boston Marathon Bombing, the killing of a U.S. diplomat overseas, the assassination of an internationally renowned journalist, and multiple kidnapping/hostage cases, Kieran is also able to harness the power of partnership, across agencies and across governments, in direct support of victims and their families.
Kieran most recently served at the FBI’s highest echelon of executive leadership as an Assistant Director and the FBI’s Senior Representative to a U.S. Intelligence Community agency. This assignment required his resourcefulness and expertise to ensure U.S. Intelligence Community capabilities and authorities were fully integrated not only in hostage situations, but across the entire range of national security threats: counterterrorism, counterespionage, cyber, and transnational organized crime.
Kieran is well-known as a leader in the hostage space, having served as the third Director of the U.S. Government’s Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, wherein he led the interagency effort through a period of great change that saw the successful return of numerous hostages and wrongful detainees. He further established deep relationships with former hostages, hostage families, and other hostage advocacy groups which continue to this day.
Kieran’s other positions across his lengthy career include multiple domestic office postings, as well as cross-cultural assignments as a diplomat, and the senior FBI official in U.S. embassies in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. His reputation as a “fixer,” placed him in some of the most challenging assignments, ranging from the Regime Crimes Task Force in Iraq in 2004, to navigating FBI’s support to local law enforcement during the period of civil unrest in Portland, Oregon in 2020. He also led one of the FBI’s Evidence Response Teams in New York in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Kieran has been honored with numerous accolades and awards across his career for a variety of investigations including the U.S. Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Award, the International Chiefs of Police Award, and the International Narcotics Officer Association Award. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University and a master’s degree from Georgetown University, and is a former adjunct faculty member for the FBI.
About the host: Beth Bailey worked in support of Afghanistan operations as a civilian intelligence analyst for the Department of the Army between 2010 and 2013. She is a freelance contributor to Fox News Digital and the Washington Examiner.
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