Hello to everyone.

Hello to everyone. Thank you for joining us for a Tuesday edition of our podcast.

Happy Masters Week.

I hope everyone had a great Easter.

Here are a few things bouncing around the caverns of what doubles as my mind.

First, congratulations to the men and women of our military and

intelligence communities for a daring, complex rescue of an American pilot shot down over Iran.

We had former CIA director and secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who would be the ideal guess to make the point he made.

Yes, this rescue operation unfolded in hours and days, but what enabled it to unfold took years and perhaps decades.

Intelligence is the lifeblood of war and conflict. And you have heard me say the Intelligence Committee is the most highly coveted spot in all of Congress. The speaker alone makes those decisions and openings are rare. I'll tell you how and who enabled me to get one of

those slots in a bit when I was there. Suffice it to say the story had a really happy ending

for the final two candidates. I think 70 something members applied for that one opening. In any event,

there's a reason that committee is different and used to be apolitical and bipartisan.

What American intelligent agents and officials do is not the stuff of James Bond. It is actually

much more interesting than that.

We don't know these intelligence officials or agents' names.

We don't see their faces.

Some are in such tough situations.

Even their families do not know what they do for a living.

And I know that sounds hyperbolic, but it's true. Their families do not know what they do for a living. And I know that sounds hyperbolic, but it's true.

Their families do not know what they do for a living.

And some, if the worst were to happen, they know going into it.

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