After traumatic health ‘crash,’ Austin Tice’s mom renews search for answers

As she marked the 14th anniversary of the abduction of her son, Austin Tice, during a 2012 reporting trip to Syria, Debra Tice remained in recovery following her own multi-month health scare.

Last October, CNN interviewed a former advisor to ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad who told the outlet that Tice, a veteran Marine Corps captain and freelance reporter, had died in 2013. Debra Tice describes the event as a “crash” that sent her health into a tailspin. She became unable to eat, losing weight and becoming so weak she couldn’t leave the house, she said. Gastroenterologists and other physicians, she said, ultimately concluded that her symptoms were based in trauma, not disease.

Beyond the reports that her son was dead, Tice said she was blindsided by a wave of condolence cards and messages, not only to her, but also to her other six children.

“It was the first time that they had all kind of been pinged, and a lot of it was kindness,” Tice told Military Times on Aug. 14, the day after the anniversary. “But, this mom was like, ‘Don’t touch my children.’”

Tice rejects the account of Assad’s advisor, Bassam Al-Hassan, noting that he failed an FBI polygraph. No physical proof exists that Austin Tice is no longer alive.

The Tice family has in recent months called for an investigation of the possibility that Austin was moved from Syria to Iran under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has managed some secret detention facilities in Syria. They’ve emphasized that they want the U.S. to reach out to Iran amid negotiations over the ongoing conflict to ask for full information sharing on Austin’s case.

“Our government needs to be asking what they know about Austin every time they’re with them [at the negotiating table],” she said.

For Debra Tice, the next objective is clear: meet in person with Jay Clayton, the newly confirmed director of National Intelligence, who was sworn in earlier this month.

“I really don’t know anything about him, but I just wanted to share with him how important his role is in getting Austin out,” she said.

Recently departed DNI Tulsi Gabbard had taken the unprecedented step of allowing the Tice family to review all the information the government had collected on Austin – eight four-inch binders covering the period from his abduction to October 2024, she said. In addition to various documented medical issues and times Austin had been moved, Tice said, she saw what she believes is evidence that he could have been recovered by the State Department shortly after he was first abducted.

To date, Tice said, she has only ever met with one Secretary of State: Antony Blinken, who in 2024 offered a $10 million bounty for information about Austin’s whereabouts. Debra Tice maintains that decision was unhelpful because it tends to flood channels with bad info.

She’d like Clayton, the new DNI, to open the binders again and show the family anything learned since October 2024. She’s also hoping to make international trips: she’d like to connect with Israel’s office of the national coordinator for hostages and the missing, an office parallel to the State Department’s special presidential envoy for hostage affairs. She also hopes to make a second trip to Syria, she said, as well as a new journey to the Vatican to meet with Pope Leo XIV.

“I’m just getting everything warmed up again,” Tice said, “And reminding people that, you know, I’m still trying to find my son.”

在纪念儿子奥斯汀·蒂斯在 2012 年前往叙利亚进行报道期间被绑架 14 周年之际，黛布拉·蒂斯仍在从长达数月的健康危机中恢复过来。

去年十月，CNN采访了叙利亚前总统巴沙尔·阿萨德的一位前顾问，该顾问告诉CNN，蒂斯（Tice）——一位退役海军陆战队上尉和自由撰稿人——已于2013年去世。黛布拉·蒂斯（Debra Tice）将此事描述为一场“崩溃”，导致她的健康状况急剧恶化。她说，她无法进食，体重下降，身体虚弱到无法出门。她还说，肠胃科医生和其他医生最终得出结论，她的症状是由创伤引起的，而非疾病。

除了得知儿子去世的消息外，蒂斯表示，她还收到了大量慰问卡和慰问信息，这让她措手不及，不仅寄给了她，也寄给了她的其他六个孩子。

“这是他们第一次收到这样的通知，而且很多时候都是出于善意，”蒂斯在8月14日，也就是周年纪念日的第二天，告诉《军事时报》。“但是，这位母亲却说，‘别碰我的孩子。’”

蒂斯驳斥了阿萨德顾问巴萨姆·哈桑的说法，并指出他未能通过联邦调查局的测谎。目前没有任何物证表明奥斯汀·蒂斯已经去世。

近几个月来，蒂斯一家一直呼吁调查奥斯汀是否在伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队的控制下从叙利亚被转移到伊朗。伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队在叙利亚设有秘密拘留设施。他们强调，希望美国在叙利亚冲突谈判期间与伊朗接触，要求伊朗全面披露奥斯汀的案件信息。

“我们的政府每次与他们（在谈判桌上）会面时，都应该问问他们对奥斯汀了解多少，”她说。

对于黛布拉·蒂斯来说，下一个目标很明确：与本月早些时候宣誓就职的新任国家情报总监杰伊·克莱顿见面。

“我对这个人真的一无所知，但我只是想告诉他，他在营救奥斯汀的过程中扮演着多么重要的角色，”她说。

蒂斯说，最近离任的国家情报总监图尔西·加巴德采取了前所未有的举措，允许蒂斯一家查阅政府收集的关于奥斯汀的所有信息——足足八本四英寸厚的活页夹，涵盖了从他被绑架到2024年10月这段时间的所有资料。蒂斯说，除了各种有记录的医疗问题和奥斯汀被转移的次数外，她还看到了她认为的证据，表明他本可以在被绑架后不久就被国务院找到。

蒂斯说，迄今为止，她只见过一位国务卿：安东尼·布林肯。布林肯曾在2024年悬赏1000万美元征集奥斯汀的下落信息。黛布拉·蒂斯认为，这一决定毫无益处，因为它容易导致错误信息泛滥。

她希望新任国家情报总监克莱顿能够再次打开档案，向家属展示自2024年10月以来取得的任何进展。她还希望进行国际访问：她想与以色列国家人质和失踪人员协调员办公室取得联系，该办公室与美国国务院负责人质事务的总统特使办公室类似。她还表示，希望再次访问叙利亚，并再次前往梵蒂冈会见教皇利奥十四世。

“我只是在重新调整状态，”蒂斯说，“并且提醒大家，我还在努力寻找我的儿子。”