NEW CASTLE – John Kiriakou’s message to more than 1,000 people Thursday was that we can live in the law of the jungle, or we can live under the Constitution of the United States.

Lawrence County’s community of government and business officials, high schoolers, college students and members of educational institutions came together at the Scottish Rite Cathedral to hear Kiriakou’s story of how in 2007 he called out the CIA for its waterboarding and other torture techniques against detainees in secret detention facilities, and how he did 23 months in federal prison to stand his ethical ground.

The New Castle boy, now 62, who became a CIA analyst and counter-terrorism operations officer, was the spotlight speaker at the 120th annual Forward Lawrence dinner. Letters he wrote in prison after pleading guilty in the whistleblowing scandal led to the publication of his New York Times bestseller, “Doing Time Like a Spy.” Copies were distributed to the dinner guests.

More than 350 people welcomed Kiriakou back to his hometown at the banquet. Many remembered him from high school, and they reminisced together about their former teachers.

After dinner, his keynote appearance was protected by the New Castle police as several hundred more attendees — totaling more than 1,000 — filed into The Cathedral auditorium. Among them were Generation Z members — individuals born from 1997 to 2012 — who follow Kiriakou’s messages and podcasts. Attendees included high school classes and...

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