CIA head says human intel, subterfuge used to help rescue airmen

By Jacob Magid

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6 April 2026, 9:16 pm

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Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

CIA Director John Ratcliffe speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, April 6, 2026, in Washington, as US President Donald Trump looks on. (AP/Alex Brandon)

CIA Director John Ratcliffe indicates that human intel and spy tech were enlisted to help find the airmen rescued from Iran.

“At the president’s direction, we deployed both human assets and exquisite technologies that no other intelligence service in the world possesses to a daunting challenge, comparable to hunting for a single grain of sand in the middle of a desert,” he says.

He also says his agency “executed a deception campaign to confuse the Iranians who were desperately hunting for our airmen,” Ratcliffe says.

“Our intelligence reflects that the Iranians were embarrassed and ultimately humiliated by the success of this audacious rescue mission,” he adds.