Roger Dean Carstens is an American diplomat and retired United States Army Special Forces lieutenant colonel. Carstens has served as the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA) since 2020.
Raised in Spokane, Washington, Carstens graduated from United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, where he was class president for the Class of 1986. After graduation, he went on to attend United States Army Ranger School.
Carstens served as a special forces military officer for much of his time in the Army. He also served as a legislative liaison at the Department of Defense and for the United States Special Operations Command.
Carstens has served two U.S. Presidents at the United States Department of State. He was the Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in the Trump administration. He has served the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs since 2020. Carstens was one of the few political appointees that President Joe Biden elected to keep in place.
During his work as the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA), Carstens has negotiated the release of over a dozen Americans wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad including Brittney Griner, Philip Walton, Trevor Reed, Danny Fenster, Baquer Namazi, the entire Citgo Six, Osman Khan, Matthew John Heath, Mark Frerichs, and Jorge Alberto Fernández. Carstens has attended events with and supported the Bring Our Families Home campaign.
Early life and education
Roger Carstens grew up in Spokane, Washington, and graduated from University High School (Washington) in 1982. Carstens went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in diplomatic and strategic history from the United States Military Academy in 1986. Carstens was class president at West Point. Carstens became interested in joining the military after reading about injustices around the world including the Cambodian genocide.
Carstens later earned a Master of Arts degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College in 2002 and a Master of Arts in liberal arts from St. John's College in 2016.
Career
United States Army
During his time with the Army, Carstens earned the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army Special Forces. Carstens served in six different wars: United States invasion of Panama, Kosovo War, Bosnian War, War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), Iraq War, and Somali Civil War, and thirteen different military locations.
During the 1990s, Carstens trained for years to conduct rescue operations as a special forces officer. Carstens served as Company Commander of the Special Forces Qualification Course at the U.S. Army's Special Forces School.
He also acted as an advisor to the Iraqi National Counter Terror Force and a senior civilian advisor to the International Security Assistance Force. After completing a tour in Iraq, he served as a legislative liaison for the United States Secretary of Defense.
Daniel Pinéu, a professor at Amsterdam University College, wrote that Carstens is the embodiment of the phrase "an officer and a gentleman."
Fellowships
In 2003, Carstens was selected as a finalist for the White House Fellows program.
After leaving the military, Carstens was a Senior Fellow for the Center for a New American Security. He has also worked as a fellow for the New America Foundation.
CAAT
Carstens served as Senior Civilian Advisor on the Commander's Advisory and Assistance Team (CAAT) in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2011. He advised on counterinsurgency. General David Petraeus praised Carstens for his work with CAAT.
INGOs
Carstens helped train local Somali National Army and African Union Mission to Somalia security forces in Somalia through his work with Bancroft Global Development. He has also worked for an NGO that delivered humanitarian aid from Jordan into southern Syria.
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
Carstens previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. In 2019, Carstens condemned the human rights crisis occurring in Nicaragua. He also advocated, among other things, to protect the human rights of women in Syria in the midst of the Syrian civil war.
Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs
In 2020, President Donald Trump appointed Carstens as the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. He has prioritized building infrastructure in the hostage recovery process.