Rand Paul’s compass has one direction - the hand is always pointing towards Rand Paul. Sometimes he says something right or productive, or votes well, and sometimes not. He’s always thinking of what will advance him politically, appeal to his base, whatever that is.
Does R.Paul have access to all the intel that the DoD has? Was he privy to all the info that POTUS and Gen. Mattis had? I doubt it.
IMHO, I pay as little attention to Rand Paul as I do the blowing breezes that go this way and that. When he was running as a presidential candidate he got (can’t remember how but he did it) the Kentucky law changed so that he could run for president AND the senate at the same time.
Political advancement is his driving ambition.