Sen. Mark Warner, Gov. Kathy Hochul, David Becker and Chris Krebs 

**Margaret Brennan** (0:01)
I'm Margaret Brennan in Washington, and this week on Face the Nation, two American troops are dead and one missing after an Iranian missile hit. The US military has launched retaliatory strikes.
Eight consecutive nights of American bombing marks a return to US combat in the Mideast. We'll have the latest with Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner. The exchange of fire comes amid a turbulent week at home, with the president facing questions on everything from immigration enforcement to tariff threats against Canada. Yet in a fiery primetime address last week, he chose to focus on election security and his 2020 loss.

**Donald Trump** (0:43)
I'm announcing the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure.

**Margaret Brennan** (0:54)
A decision some members of his own party are now questioning.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:58)
I don't understand talking about what happened six years ago in light of these upcoming elections.

**Margaret Brennan** (1:06)
We'll examine the president's claims with CBS News election law contributor David Becker and former cybersecurity chief Chris Krebs, who was fired by Trump for asserting that the 2020 elections were secure. Plus, New York Governor Kathy Hochul on her state's new data center moratorium. White House border czar Tom Homan on growing scrutiny of ICE operations.
Finally, is inflation cooling? We'll ask Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan whether Americans can expect relief on affordability. It is all just ahead on Face the Nation.
Good morning and welcome back to Face the Nation. America is back at war. There were new exchanges of fire this morning with Iran launching missiles at US partners in Jordan, with Israel warning that could spill into their territory and widen the conflict. Overnight, the US targeted Iranian drone and missile sites after Iran's Revolutionary Guard killed two American service members and injured others. One service member is still missing from that attack. These are the first deaths of US troops since the fighting resumed two weeks ago. To date, 16 American troops have died in this conflict with Iran. For more now, we begin with the Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia. Senator, good morning to you. You are part of the very small group of people on Capitol Hill who are supposed to have sensitive information shared with them. Since this was the second hit in about two days on a base where Americans are in Jordan, do you have any insight into why they were able to penetrate those American defenses?

**Mark Warner** (3:05)
First of all, condolences to the service members' families.
It's remarkable in many ways that we've not had more casualties. We literally have hundreds of seriously wounded, but I think we're at 16 fatalities. I would argue, Margaret, this is what happens when you start a war of choice. As a member of the Gang of Eight, I can say unequivocally there was no imminent threat from Iran. You start a war of choice without a plan. Very briefly, if you go through what the administration finally said their goals were, regime change. Well, the guys in charge now are worse than the prior crowd. Getting the enriched uranium, no progress on that will take 15,000 troops on the ground. Nobody wants to do that.

**Margaret Brennan** (3:48)
15,000.

**Mark Warner** (3:49)
15,000 has been the minimum assumption you'd need to go into these bunkers. Take out this enriched uranium in canisters would be very difficult. The Iranians would be shooting at them. Nobody has been moving on that. We said we were going to degrade their ability to use missiles and drones. Obviously, we've not been successful on that point. It gets me particularly crazy because we're using missiles that cost $2.5 million to shoot down Iranian drones that cost $50,000.
And the country that has figured out how to do this cheaply, efficiently is Ukraine. They can take out Iranian drones with $5,000 drones, and we turn down their offer of their technology. And then finally, the Strait of Hormuz, gas is now back up to $4.
That's $1.20 more than it was, at least in Virginia, when the war started. And there is no plan on how we keep the Strait open.

**Margaret Brennan** (4:39)
Well, the president said he might look at that drone deal. You're right, it hasn't been followed through on yet. But just to put a fine point on it, back in May, the US sanctioned Chinese entities for helping Iran's military secure weapons and satellite imagery.
Does this direct hit signal to you they are getting targeting help from our adversaries?

**Mark Warner** (5:00)
I have not been briefed on whether they're getting targeting help. I do know that these bases have been on and off under attack since the beginning five months ago of, again, this war of choice.