Former CIA counterterrorism officer John Kiriakou, the first US official to confirm the agency’s use of torture, speaks candidly in LADbible’s Honesty Box about how the CIA can “disappear” people, through secret prisons, covert detentions or even new identities for defectors. His answers, shaped by years inside the agency and his later whistleblowing, offer a rare insider’s clarity.
Before John Kiriakou ever became a whistleblower, he was the kind of CIA officer Hollywood turns into a franchise. Between 1990 and 2004, he moved through the agency’s ranks and across the world, working in 72 countries and, after 9/11, becoming the CIA’s Chief of Counterterrorist Operations in Pakistan. His job was to hunt al-Qaeda leaders, run high-stakes operations, and understand the shadows most people only encounter through films like Jason Bourne. But Kiriakou became famous for something else entirely. He was the first US official to confirm the CIA’s use of torture on detainees, a revelation that cost him his career, his freedom, and, as he often says, parts of his life he’ll never get back. After speaking publicly, he was charged with passing classified information to the media and served almost two years in federal prison. Since his release, he has become a leading advocate for civil liberties and whistleblower protections. In a recent episode of the LADbible Honesty Box, Kiriakou answered a set of questions most intelligence officials never touch. And he answered them with the...
Actor Nana, formerly of the group After School (birth name Lim Jin-a), filed a complaint for false accusation against the robber who had countersued her on an attempted murder charge. On the 23rd,...