CIA deception campaign helped rescue downed airman in Iran, director says

A deception campaign launched by the CIA bought time for U.S. forces to rescue an airman who went down in Iran on Friday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a White House news conference on Monday.

The CIA deployed human assets and “exquisite technologies” to contribute to the rescue of the weapons systems officer of an F-15E Strike Eagle, Ratcliffe said. The aircraft’s pilot was rescued earlier upon the crash, but Iran was “desperately hunting” for the backseater who ejected further from his wingman and had moved away from the crash site.

The injured officer was found by the CIA in a mountain crevice but was still invisible to Iranian forces.

“Following the successful exfiltration on Saturday night, our intelligence reflects that the Iranians were embarrassed and ultimately humiliated by the success of this audacious rescue,” Ratcliffe said.

At the press conference, President Donald Trump said it was the CIA’s “genius” that contributed to the rescue and that the spy agency had spotted “something moving up the mountain.”

“This is at night. And they kept the camera on him for 45 minutes,” Trump said, suggesting the CIA had a covert surveillance capability — potentially a drone or satellite — available to track the airman’s movements.

The public remarks about the mission show how the Trump administration has made it a point to highlight contributions that CIA operatives have made toward its national security efforts.

Those include operations that targeted the government of ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. The agency has also taken a more public-facing posture, releasing recruitment videos aimed at sourcing in China. And in the months leading up to the Iran war, agency spies had been reportedly tracking the movements of now deceased Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.