U.S. intelligence agencies had already done the groundwork needed to locate a missing colonel inside Iran, Paul Mauro said Monday, arguing the operation relied on intelligence gathered well before the mission began.
"You've got to collect, you collect, you collect and a lot of it sometimes you're never going to use," Mauro told "Fox & Friends."
"The key is when you need it, it has to be there."
Mauro pointed to the Maduro case, which unfolded at the behest of the Trump administration in January, noting U.S. forces' ability to pinpoint where the Venezuelan dictator and his wife were going to be at the time in order to make an effective capture.
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"They got him as they were running to a safe room without a scratch. Everybody comes out without a scratch," he said.
"They got them as they were fleeing. That's how detailed the messaging was, and that's how synchronized the operation was."
Mauro said that same level of preparation and coordination was on display in the Iran mission, where U.S. forces rescued a missing U.S. weapons systems officer from a downed F-15E following a multi-day search inside enemy territory.
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U.S. intelligence was able to act quickly to retrieve the missing colonel once his location was confirmed.
"[This] was one of those situations where the bell rang. 'Guys, what [have] you got?' President turns around, [War Secretary] Hegseth turns around, [and] they all talk to [CIA Director John] Ratcliffe and they say, 'What [have] you got, director?' and fortunately it was there."
Mauro said the operation highlights a broader fact about intelligence work that is apparent to those working within its community: its success comes down to the people running the sources.
"At the end of the day… it comes down to people," he said.
"If you think that you can sit in a cubicle someplace and get everything you need to be done, that's not how it's going to go. You need people in country, in dangerous areas, Americans working on our behalf that you'll never hear about... they're running the sources so that, again, when you need it, they say, 'My source is good.'"
