Senator Cotton’s full remarks may be found here and below.

Senator Tom Cotton: Thank you, Director Gabbard. General Adams, Camden, Arkansas, is the home of brand-new production lines for the Israeli missile defense interceptors. Could you please explain how critical the Arrow and Iron Dome systems being built in Camden are not only not only for Israel’s defenses but also for the defense of hundreds of thousands of troops in the region?

General Adams: Chairman Cotton, thank you for that question. And I have to say the Arrow system and Iron Dome system are critical defense systems that prevent adversary power-projection systems from impacting the targets in the friendly areas in Israel. The Arrow system itself is high-altitude, primarily against MRBMs, and it’s proven to be very, very effective against those systems. The Iron Dome is more of a closer-in system, protecting against rockets and things of that nature. The combination of those two with U.S. systems creates a shield to prevent attacks from the Iranians, impacting key areas in areas where they’re protecting.

Senator Cotton: Thank you, General Adams. I was recently in Camden with Secretary Hegseth as part of his Arsenal of Freedom Tour, and they are great Arkansans who do great work to keep our nation safe. General Hartman, we’ve often spoken about our pressing need for more cybersecurity manpower. Part-time formations, such as the Arkansas Air National Guard’s 223rd Cyberspace Operations Squadron, are a great way to grow the force. What recommendations do you have to grow these cyber protection teams and develop more capacity for local and national missions?

General Hartman: Chairman Cotton, thanks for the question. I did hear a little bit about the great team in Arkansas there, and I know 855 CPT operates from that formation. So for us, certainly looking at a number of different initiatives, one, ensure that we can share all of the relevant, top-secret, classified information and other sorts of indications that the organizations need. But I’ll tell you, I’m an advocate for an ability to establish some sort of joint reserve cyber organization. [This is] so that at CYBERCOM, we can ensure that those organizations have all of the advanced training that they need, ensure that those organizations have access to all of the intelligence that they need, and ensure that we control some level of funding at CYBERCOM and NSA that can be used to mobilize those personnel to handle the most difficult problems that we’re faced with. And we have been working with Congress on some of that language, and the department, and we appreciate it, Sir.

Senator Cotton: Thank you, General Hartman. As I said in my opening, we only have this one public hearing a year, even though the committee hears from each of you several times throughout the year in classified settings. So, we don’t often have the chance to tell the American people what great work their intelligence professionals are doing for them. So, Director Ratcliffe, could you take the opportunity to maybe join in the excellent briefings that Secretary Hegseth and General Caine have provided on a regular basis over the last couple of months on the military aspects of both the Maduro raid and Operation Epic Fury to explain the CIA’s contributions to those operations?

Director Ratcliffe: Thank you, Senator. You know, last year when I was here, and in my confirmation, I promised you all, and you had all asked for, a more aggressive CIA. One that was focused on its core mission: getting back to the business of stealing secrets to be able to provide our policymakers with a decisive strategic advantage that would allow an advance and contribute to foreign policy and national security successes. To the credit of the CIA workforce the CIA has delivered. Some of those successes have been very public, as you mentioned, Senator, Operation Midnight Hammer, Operation Absolute Resolve. Flawless military operations like that are hostage to a flawless intelligence picture. And the CIA, as you know from classified briefings, contributed in myriad ways to the success of that. But what I would say to you is those successes are just emblematic of the phenomenal progress and success—really by every measure, every metric, every standard, across every national security space—with regard to the work of the CIA. Senator, you mentioned some of it in your opening. The increase of our asset stable and our human sources up by 20 percent. Our FI collection across the board, our foreign intelligence collection, up by 25 percent overall, and in important categories, like China, for instance, up 100 percent. In areas like tech and AI, up 45 percent. On the counter-narcotics front, our operations up by 70 percent. And with regard to counter-terrorism, those are classified numbers that I’ll share with you in the classified portion of this hearing, but they’re off-the-charts good. Best way I can summarize it, Senator, is I had a 32-year veteran of the agency retire this year, and he said to me, “I hate to go. I don’t know if this is the best year the CIA’s ever had, but it’s the best year I can ever remember.” And I think that reflects the current morale of the CIA. It’s a workforce that knows it’s doing a good job. It knows it’s being allowed to do what they signed up to do, which is provide that decisive strategic advantage to our country for great successes that everyone can see. So I thank you for the opportunity to let me recognize the CIA workforce.

Senator Cotton: Thank you, Director Ratcliffe. I want to address one specific threat from Iran: the threat of an intercontinental missile, which is really just the combination of two technologies. One, thrust to get something into space, and a re-entry vehicle to get it back to Earth. Iran has always had a space launch program, which is flimsy cover for the first part of that intercontinental missile program. I haven’t seen any Iranian astronauts in space recently. And second, they have medium-range ballistic missiles, which already have a re-entry vehicle. So, if you crudely married those two technologies together, I’ve heard some analysts say that Iran could have a functioning intercontinental missile to threaten the United States in as few as 6 months. Would you agree with that assessment?

Director Ratcliffe: Well, you’re right to be concerned about Iran’s development of long-range ballistic missiles, Senator. If Iran were allowed to develop at the IRBM range, which is 3000km, it would threaten most of Europe. And yes, as you mentioned, we know that Iran is gaining experience in these larger, more powerful booster technologies through its so-called space launch vehicle program. If left unimpeded, yes, Senator, they would have the ability to range missiles to the continental U.S. It’s one of the reasons why degrading Iran’s missile production capabilities that is taking place right now in Operation Epic Fury is so important to our national security.

Senator Cotton: Thank you.