The Cost of Telling the Truth | John Kiriakou | Ep. 446

The Cost of Telling the Truth | John Kiriakou | Ep. 446

John Kiriakou spent 14 years at the CIA. He started as an analyst, went operational, and eventually ran counterterrorism work in Pakistan that led to the capture of Abu Zubaydah. He was the first U.S. government official to publicly confirm that the agency was waterboarding prisoners. For that, the Obama administration prosecuted him under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act and sent him to federal prison for 23 months. He lost his pension. He lost his career. Most of his kids stopped speaking to him. Today he writes books, hosts a podcast, and teaches a course on the history of terrorism.

We get into how the agency really works. Recruiting spies. Breaking into a house in a foreign country to plant a bug. The mentor who told him to walk up to a target's front door and sell him out to his face. Then we get into the part nobody at Langley wants to talk about. Torture. Rendition. The innocent people who got grabbed off planes and buses and never got their lives back.

We also cover Section 702, the Patriot Act, Iran, Iraq, and why no agency ever gives the power back.

Enjoy.

Join the Cleared Hot Podcast Newsletter: https://www.clearedhotpodcast.com

Today's Sponsors:

Black Rifle Coffee:

https://www.blackriflecoffee.com

Brunt:

Right now, for a limited time, our listeners get $10 off at https://www.BRUNTworkwear.com when you use code "clearedhot" at checkout.

Jaksot(757)

Learning To Suffer Well | Full Auto Friday | 5.01.2026

Learning To Suffer Well | Full Auto Friday | 5.01.2026

Four questions this week. The kind that don't have clean answers. A guy whose father murdered his mother is asking how to get back to who he was before. He's not. A 28-year-old still living at home is...

1 Touko 57min

Bonus Episode - Drownproof Chapter 1 - Be the Author of your Life, not the Victim of it

Bonus Episode - Drownproof Chapter 1 - Be the Author of your Life, not the Victim of it

Today's "episode" is the audiobook first chapter of my book: Drownproof. Thank you to everyone who helped make the launch such a tremendous success. Hitting all of the "Best Seller" lists, to include ...

29 Huhti 31min

Working for Kanye, Building "Items" for Delta Force | Justin Klahn | Ep. 445

Working for Kanye, Building "Items" for Delta Force | Justin Klahn | Ep. 445

Justin Klahn is hard to put in a box. Twenty years inside Nike Innovation. Years embedded with JSOC units building gear that had to actually work. Time consulting with three-letter agencies, DARPA, an...

27 Huhti 3h 26min

Bladder Control and Geopolitics | Negligent Discharge Friday | 4.24.2026

Bladder Control and Geopolitics | Negligent Discharge Friday | 4.24.2026

Michael, my dad, and me. Three generations arguing in one room. That's the format today. My dad watched Neil Armstrong walk on the moon live at twenty-two years old. He remembers the Iranian hostage c...

24 Huhti 1h 12min

How Fast and Furious Buried an FBI Agent | John Shipley | Ep. 444

How Fast and Furious Buried an FBI Agent | John Shipley | Ep. 444

John Shipley spent fourteen years carrying an FBI badge. Army aviator first — commissioned by his own father, a retired Vietnam-era lieutenant colonel — until a spinal cord injury at Walter Reed ended...

20 Huhti 2h 57min

Windshield, Not the Rearview Mirror | Full Auto Friday | 4.17.2026

Windshield, Not the Rearview Mirror | Full Auto Friday | 4.17.2026

Week one of the book being out in the world, and I still don't have the vocabulary for the support. Thank you. Genuinely. If you read it, an honest Amazon review costs nothing and helps more than you'...

17 Huhti 1h 2min

Giving It All Back Before the Clock Runs Out | John Dudley | Ep. 443

Giving It All Back Before the Clock Runs Out | John Dudley | Ep. 443

John Dudley is a decorated professional archer, two-time IBO National Champion, World Field Championship medalist, and the founder of Nock On Archery. He's spent close to 30 years inside the archery i...

15 Huhti 1h 40min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

i-dont-like-mondays
olipa-kerran-otsikko
kaksi-aitia
sita
hupiklubi
ihme-ja-kumma
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
uutiscast
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
kolme-kaannekohtaa
rss-murhan-anatomia
mamma-mia
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
meidan-pitais-puhua
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
aikalisa
rss-haudattu
taskula-trishin