Watch: CIA Director Declares Incredible CIA Revival, Delivers Big Wins

On Wednesday, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. A question from the committee chair, Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), prompted Director Ratcliffe to list some of the accomplishments in reforming and refocusing the CIA on its core mission: Stealing secrets.

It's an interesting listen.

.@CIADirector touts our INCREDIBLE CIA 👏🚨

—25% increase of our assets table & human sources up —25% increase in overall foreign intelligence collection.
—70% increase in counter terrorism operations.

"Best way I can summarize it, I have a veteran of the agency who said to me… pic.twitter.com/kHbhCa6MRM
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 18, 2026

Invited by Senator Cotton to list the accomplishments the Trump administration has made in remaking the CIA, Director Ratcliffe said in part:

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 core mission. Getting back to the business of stealing secrets. To be able to provide our policy makers with a decisive strategic advantage, that would allow, and 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. 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 25 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 a hundred percent. In areas like tech, in AI, up 45 percent.
On the counter narcotics front, our operations are up by 70 percent. And with regard to counter-terrorism, those are classified numbers that I will share with you in the classified portion of this hearing, but they're off the charts good. The best way I can summarize it, Senator, is I had a 32-year veteran of the agency retire and he said to me 'I hate to go. I don’t know if this is the best year the CIA has ever had. But it’s the best year I can ever remember.' I think that reflects the current morale of the CIA. It’s a workforce that knows it’s doing a great job. It knows that it’s being allowed to do what they signed up to do.

Those are pretty good metrics by any measure. And we're seeing, daily, the fruits of this reformation of the key American foreign-intelligence service; none of our major military operations, not Midnight Hammer, not Absolute Resolve, not Epic Fury, would have gone as well as they had, had our armed forces not been forearmed with good, reliable intelligence.

Hegseth Hatred Leaves Democrat Politicians and Media With Egg on Their Faces As Well As Steak and Lobster

An effective foreign intelligence service can actually save the lives of our armed services, by providing them solid information on what and who to hit - and where things are that they should avoid.

An old friend of mine worked for the CIA for 30 years, retiring in 1992. He has many stories he can't tell, but one comment he made to me during the Biden administration was that he absolutely hated what the inept, fumbling Biden people had done to the agency he had served proudly for much of his life. I imagine he's much more pleased with how it's going today.

Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.

Help RedState continue to report on the Democrats’ radicalism and inform voters as our nation faces a crossroads. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.