(SeaPRwire) –   Paul Mauro stated on Monday that U.S. intelligence agencies had already laid the groundwork required to locate a missing colonel in Iran, emphasizing that the operation depended on intelligence collected long before the mission commenced.

“You have to keep collecting, collecting, collecting—often, much of that information will never be used,” Mauro told the “Fox & Friends” program.

“The critical thing is that when you need that information, it has to be available.”

Mauro cited the Maduro incident, which unfolded in January at the request of the Trump administration, highlighting U.S. forces’ ability to precisely pinpoint the Venezuelan leader and his wife’s location at that time to carry out a successful capture.

“They apprehended him as he and his wife were rushing to a safe room, and no one was injured—everyone walked away unharmed,” he explained.

“They caught them while they were fleeing. That’s how thorough the planning was, and how coordinated the operation was.”

Mauro noted that the same level of preparation and coordination was evident 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 in enemy territory.

Once the missing colonel’s location was confirmed, U.S. intelligence was able to act quickly to retrieve him.

“[This] was one of those moments when the call came. ‘Guys, what do you have?’ the President asks, [War Secretary] Hegseth turns, and they all go to [CIA Director John] Ratcliffe, saying, ‘What do you have, Director?’—and fortunately, the information was there.”

Mauro said the operation underscores a broader truth about intelligence work known to those in the field: its success hinges on the people managing the sources.

“At the end of the day… it all boils down to people,” he remarked.

“If you think you can just sit in a cubicle somewhere and get everything done, that’s not how it works. You need people on the ground in the country, in dangerous areas—Americans working on our behalf whom you’ll never hear about… they’re managing the sources so that, again, when you need it, they can say, ‘My source is reliable.’“