Found reasons to hope over the years that Austin Tice may still be alive.

 Found reasons to hope over the years that Austin Tice may still be alive. In February 2017, Mike pompeo, then the C. I. A. Director, called Mr.Mamlouk to discuss the Tice case. The call was the highest -level contact between the government in years, but the Effort went nowhere. In August 2018, a senior C. I. A. official traveled to Damascus and met with Mr. Mamlock, raising the subject of Mr. Tice. Christopher C. Miller, the acting defense secretary under Mr. Trump, said he had director additional resources to finding Mr. Tice, though he would not describe those efforts in detail.

We were operation on the assumption that he was still alive",Mr. Miller said. American partners in the region took notice of the high -level interest. Tors learnd that he had initially been taken to a prison in Damascus and had been seen by a doctor,according to two people fimiler with the matter.Mr tice managed to escape for about a week but was recaptured, the people said. In 2016, thet intelligence community conducted an assessment on Mr. Tice ,conclusion that strong circumstance evidence suggest he was still alive only the Defense Intelligence Agency objected, on the grounds that the possibility of yearlong survival in a syrian prison was unlikely. The agency revised it's conclusion after other intelligence officials challenge it's analysis. After Mr.Turmp took office ,efforts to find and free Mr. Tice intensified.

The Trump administration made hostage rescues a top national security priority and successfully freed, by its count more than 50 Americans. An opportunity arose to try to learn about Mr.Tice in early 2017. An American consultant living in Beirut with ties to the Syrian government traveled to Damascus carrying a message from the U.S. Government asking for information about him, former American officials said. The consultant met with Ali Mamlouk the head of Syrian's National security Bureau intelligence service.former officials said they were hoping the meeting would result in the Syrian,s sharing proof that Mr. Tice was still alive and perhaps ultimately to a deal to release him. Though diplomatic relations between the United States and Syrian have been minimal since the United States closed it's embassy in Damascus in 2012 and and ordered the closure of the Syrian embassy in Washington in 2014, the Trump administration was also wiling to use senior officials to work directly for Mr. Tice,s release.