WASHINGTON — When news reached CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on Friday that Iran had shot down an American fighter jet and two Air Force officers had ejected into enemy territory, the U.S. intelligence brass went into emergency mode.
The pilot of the F-15E Strike Eagle was rescued relatively quickly, but the second crew member — a weapons systems officer — was not immediately located. A race against time began to find him before the Iranian forces.
The CIA, which traditionally operates in operations to rescue American pilots behind enemy lines, set up a deception plan to buy time and try to move the Iranians away from the area where the soldier could be, according to a senior government official. He and other sources spoke on condition of anonymity as this is a sensitive rescue and intelligence gathering operation.
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Initially, the United States did not know exactly where the officer was, only that he had moved from the point where the ejection seat fell. They also had information that he was injured, which increased the urgency of the mission.
The details of the distraction plan were not revealed, nor the exact degree of success. But the central idea, according to the official, was to spread information within Iran that the soldier had already been found and was being taken out of the country in a land convoy. The expectation was to divert the attention of Iranian troops from the region where he was actually hiding to the exit roads.
According to this source, the CIA’s action appeared, in fact, to generate confusion and uncertainty among the Iranian forces participating in the searches.
The soldier managed to escape for more than 24 hours, climbing a slope of around 2,100 meters in altitude and hiding in a crevice in the rock.
Air Force fighter pilots and weapons officers use a locator and secure communications device to talk to rescuers. But they are trained not to emit signals all the time and to limit the use of this equipment, precisely to prevent enemy forces from also being able to track their position.
A senior government official declined to detail what type of technology the CIA used to locate the soldier, other than to say that it was equipment exclusive to the agency.
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As soon as he was found, the CIA passed the coordinates to the Pentagon and the White House, which activated the plan to remove the officer — an operation that involved hundreds of members of special forces and other military personnel.
American forces began bombing the region to keep the Iranians at bay. As US commandos approached the location where the soldier was hiding, they fired shots to stop Iranian troops from advancing towards the rescue point, but there was no direct confrontation, according to an American military official. This could be a sign that the deception plan helped to alienate part of the Iranian forces.
After being rescued, the injured soldier was taken by plane to Kuwait, where he received medical care.
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