In this special episode of Reflections from Budapest, we continued our discussion with Colonel Christopher P. Costa. Colonel Costa was a former US government official with 35 years of experience, including 25 years in military counterintelligence, human intelligence (HUMINT), and special operations forces (SOF). He also served as the Special Assistant to the President & Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the White House from 2017-18. Since 2018 he has been the executive director of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. We continued our discussion with Colonel Costa about the ramifications of the war in Gaza. Colonel Costa shared his insights on the issues stemming from hostage-taking and subsequent negotiations or hostage rescue. To conclude Colonel Costa shared what lessons Israel should have learned and what changes he would recommend to ensure that October 7th will not happen again.