Transcript: Sen. Mark Warner on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” March 15, 2026

The following is the text of the interview with Sen. Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on March 15, 2026.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We now turn to the deputy chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Democratic Senator Mark Warner. He joins us this morning from Richmond, Virginia. Senator, I have a lot to ask about Iran, but I want to start with the country first. We have had several attacks, two of which are being investigated as acts of terrorism here at home. Do we still have a senator? Okay, I’m sorry. I’m glad you can hear me. Local incidents, including the one in Virginia at Old Dominion University, the gunman was serving many years in prison for trying to support ISIS. He walked into an Army ROTC class and shot the instructor dead. He injured two others. How does a convicted ISIS supporter exercise this right under the nose of law enforcement?

Whose job was it to follow him?

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Well, Margaret, I think the job should have been the FBI. And unfortunately, under this FBI director, Kash Patel, he fired a lot of top counterterrorism people, people who were dissidents. And he’s taken, and I’ve reported this many times, about one-third of our FBI officers who quit fighting terrorism or sex crimes and I put them in immigration enforcement. I knew this would come back to bite us. And I believe that although there may not be a direct relationship here, we know in every office they have taken these FBI agents out of their serious cases and put them in law enforcement. I think that was a mistake. I want to find out how this guy was able to continue to do nothing, and we’ve got to get an investigation, but we’ve got to get the FBI back focused on protecting our country and preventing, whether it’s terrorism or espionage going on.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right now, are you aware of any threats in the country?

SEN. WARNER: I haven’t been notified in the last few days of any more credible threats. But this, let’s put it this way, you know, these are the things you have to plan for if you plan to go to war in a war of choice. This is a war of choice. And if you pass quickly, the president said there will be four goals. The regime change, we actually got a supreme leader who is worse than the previous one. And you heard the foreign minister, it doesn’t sound like they’re ready to leave. Uranium enrichment, would take the military down. To get rid of the missiles, we betrayed some of them.

MARGARET BRENNAN: –I get it.–

SEN. WARNER: But the crazy thing is that we didn’t take Ukraine’s offer to follow through, to use their drones, which are very cheap. I need to talk to you- And finally, we have closed the Strait of Hormuz.

00:02:46

MARGARET BRENNAN: I have to go on vacation and I’ll come back and talk to you when I don’t have to cut you off. Let me just go to this break now.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We now return to our discussion with Senator Mark Warner. Senator, we were talking about Iran before that break. It was last year that the nation’s intelligence leaders sat before your committee and gave evidence at the Worldwide Threats Briefing. And at that time, the evidence was that, quote, “we continue to verify that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and that Khamenei did not approve the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.” Apparently, Israel did not agree with that US assessment, and they appealed to President Trump. Were those US intelligence leaders wrong?

SEN. WARNING: No, they weren’t. There was no imminent threat to the United States, and I don’t believe there was even an imminent threat to Israel from Iran. In time, especially with ballistic missile capability, Israel will be more vulnerable. The decision to go to war, this time, was President Trump’s choice. And as I was running through, I won’t go through the whole list again, but it was regime change, getting rid of enriched uranium, getting rid of their missiles, sinking the Navy. I’m not sure we’ve reached a successful conclusion in any of the four, especially in the last place, the Navy. You know, they have hundreds and hundreds of these speedboats that can plant mines in the Strait of Hormuz, which are already partially mined, and now, we’re in this situation where he’s going to decide, I think when he heard it in his bones, I think that was the quote the president used, and was that service the way we were killed? And I have a bunch of those sailors in a Ford pointed at home in Norfolk, Virginia. And waiting for him to feel good in the bones? That doesn’t seem like a fair process.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we’ll get an update from those intelligence leaders before your committee later this week. We will be keeping an eye on that. I want to ask you, though, about what happened with this deadly strike at a primary school in Minab, Iran. Our CBS reporting that about 200 people were killed, which may have been the result of outdated intelligence used for target links, according to preliminary assessments. Secretary Hegseth said he has appointed an investigator from outside Central Command to conduct a full investigation. According to what you’ve been told, was a serious mistake made within the intelligence community or was this a problem of the military not evaluating the intelligence they were given?

SEN. WARNER: Margaret, we’ve only received a preliminary examination, and I want a thorough investigation. But what I don’t want to do is jump to conclusions, whether it was CENTCOM or whether it was the Defense Intelligence Agency. Well, that’s what a thorough investigation needs to be done. Apparently, it was an American strike. I also feel disappointed that the president tried to deny it at first or say it was the Iranians. That’s it- we have it. The words of the president of the United States are very important in times like this. And, unfortunately, President Trump, using loose language all the time, has never come to the American people in this war of choice and said what our goals are, and we still don’t know except for the four goals that he revealed. I’m not sure we’ll make it, but he will – whenever he decides. And we- where I disagree with my friend Kevin Hassett, this has a huge economic impact. In Virginia, two weeks ago, gasoline prices were $2.81. today they are about 3.45 $. I saw a farmer yesterday. Fertilizer costs have increased by 40%.

MARGARET BRENNAN: No, and we will continue to follow that. Just to put a fine point on this, though, because this was a school full of kids. When a mistake like this happens, do you have confidence in all the US intelligence that continues to be used to identify and inform what is happening on the ground now and the more than 50,000 service people we have done here?

SEN. WARNER: That’s why we want an investigation. The school, however, was completely adjacent to the base of the Iranian military. That doesn’t excuse what happened. But that’s why, before I suspect whether it was the military or the DIA, I want to get the facts. I think we can all do a better job arguing about facts rather than opinions.

MARGARET BRENNAN: In fact, the Senate failed to advance that Homeland Security funding for the fourth time yesterday. We have airline executives embarrassing Congress by not paying TSA agents. I have a video of TSA workers in the food line because they just missed their second pay, half pay last week, full pay this Friday. Why can’t your leaders end this struggle?

SEN. WARNER: Margaret, I think you should. And what we’ve offered is let’s pay TSA, let’s pay FEMA, let’s pay the National Guard [sic.] I’m sorry Coast Guard, let’s pay CISA, I mean let’s pay Customs and Border Patrol. If we can’t agree on ICE reforms, let’s pay everyone. With the budget the Republicans put in place, why wouldn’t they just take yes for an answer?

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, they say, it’s a full subsidy, not a little, but–

SEN. WARNING: –If you are going to fund 95%, like we did to balance the government, why not do the balance of DHS without ICE?

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we’ll be watching that. Senator Warner, thank you for your time this morning. We will be right back.