- 6 minutes ago
Former CIA intelligence officer John Kiriakou rewatches 11 more spy movies and reveals just how accurate Hollywood’s take on the covert really is. From Angelina Jolie’s double-agent thriller Salt to the true-to-life award-winning historical drama Bridge of Spies, Kiriakou breaks down scenes from the most popular spy movies.You can check out John's new podcast John Kiriakou's Briefing Room here: https://www.youtube.com/@realjohnkiriakouCredits:Director: Jeremy ClowneyDirector of Photography: Jack BelisleEditor: Phil CeconiTalent: John KiriakouSenior Producer: Michael BeckertLine Producer: Jen SantosProduction Manager: Evie RoopCamera Operator: Carlos AraujoGaffer: David DjacoSound Mixer: Sean PaulsenProduction Assistant: Quinton JohnsonPost Production Supervisor: Jess DunnPost Production Coordinator: Stella ShortinoSupervising Editor: Rob LombardiAssistant Editor: Justin SymondsExecutive Producer: Cara MarceanteDirector, Creative: Nick CollettAssociate Director, Programming: Jeremy Clowney
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Nobody at the CIA is even trained to do stuff like that.
00:02Even if you were trained like a ninja,
00:04you wouldn't throw your gun into the river
00:06because you ran out of bullets.
00:08Hi, GQ. I'm John Kiriakou,
00:10former CIA officer and senior investigator
00:12on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
00:14Today, we're going to break down
00:15spy movies and TV shows again.
00:18This is The Breakdown.
00:31Collins.
00:33Yeah. Cantina, Mariana, Vineyards, south of Palermo.
00:38Who is this?
00:40Let's pause right here.
00:42First of all, you can't just pick up the phone and call the CIA.
00:45Well, that's not true.
00:46You can pick up the phone and call the CIA.
00:48They do have a number that's actually listed in the phone book,
00:52and they would get calls all night long
00:53from just people among the general public
00:55calling to say that the CIA was beaming waves at their heads
00:59and to please stop,
01:00and the CIA was communicating with them
01:03through fillings in their teeth.
01:05So you can't just call an actual analyst at a desk, number one.
01:09But it's plausible that the operations center
01:14looks like that and has that kind of technology.
01:18The CIA always has cutting-edge technology,
01:21especially for its analysts.
01:23That's right. Hold on.
01:25Let me get something to write this down with.
01:27No need for that.
01:28Not everything on this line is recorded anyway, right?
01:31Buddy.
01:46Another thing that is plausible
01:49is that the analyst has access to satellite photography that quickly.
01:56Twenty years ago, I would have said that's just simply not true.
02:00Today, with the advent of the likes of Google Earth,
02:03yes, it is actually as easy as that
02:06to get almost live satellite coverage.
02:10One of the important components of the Directorate of Intelligence,
02:14the analytic directorate at the CIA is financial analysis.
02:18It's also specific to terrorist financing.
02:23For example, there would be a group
02:25that would track Hezbollah financing in Latin America.
02:29Hezbollah makes a lot of its money
02:31by smuggling electronics from Paraguay to Brazil.
02:34The electronics are sold and the money is wired
02:37or carried or couriered or sent to Hezbollah
02:41to buy weapons and explosives and things like that.
02:44Every major terrorist group in the world
02:45will have analysts in the financial analysis group
02:49watching it just to see where the money's coming from
02:52and how the CIA can disrupt its flow.
02:55If it were real life that some random private citizen
02:59could just use his cell phone
03:01and call directly to a CIA financial analyst
03:05sitting at a desk,
03:06sure, the line would likely be recorded,
03:09but at the same time,
03:11you couldn't just use your cell phone.
03:13You would want some kind of a throwaway cell phone.
03:16You're not going to want to use your own cell phone.
03:18In real life, in a scenario like this,
03:20the information would not come from
03:22a random American citizen.
03:24It would likely come from a recruited asset
03:27or what's called a walk-in.
03:29Somebody who literally walks into an American embassy
03:32somewhere in the world and says,
03:34I have important information.
03:35I want to speak to a CIA officer.
04:04Let's stop right here.
04:06This is actually very old spy technology
04:11from the early days of the Cold War.
04:14And in fact, you can see hollowed out coins like this
04:16in the CIA museum,
04:18which unfortunately is not open to the public.
04:20Back in the early days of the Cold War,
04:24a lot of information was transmitted
04:26or transferred via microfilm, microfiche,
04:31little teeny tiny encrypted or encoded messages.
04:36And, you know, what better way to do it
04:38than inside a hollowed out nickel
04:40or a hollowed out quarter?
04:42This was quite a common technique.
04:50Pause it here for a second.
04:52What he was looking at in the magnifying glass
04:56was an encoded message
04:58that is decoded using something called a one-time pad
05:02or a single-use pad.
05:04A single-use pad or one-time pad
05:06is used for one individual message.
05:10So you can decrypt one single message,
05:13throw away the pad, throw away the message.
05:16The next message that you get,
05:18it's going to have completely different numbers and letters.
05:21And you'll have to have access
05:22to another one-time pad in order to decrypt it.
05:26Let's fast forward here.
05:42Visitors.
05:43Let's stop right here.
05:44The raid on the apartment
05:46is very typical of the way the FBI does raids
05:49or does business.
05:51There's nothing subtle about it.
05:52They're not going to knock politely on your door.
05:54They're going to break the door down
05:56and they're going to grab you.
05:57You can either cooperate with us right now
05:59or you'll be under arrest.
06:01Do you understand, Colonel?
06:02No, not really.
06:04Why do you keep calling me Colonel?
06:07You need to get dressed.
06:08Let's fast forward here.
06:16Wouldn't want to get this through.
06:17Pause it here for a second.
06:19They made a couple of mistakes in that scene
06:21in that today's FBI would never give him his teeth.
06:25They would never let him wipe the paint off the palette.
06:28He would be cuffed and sitting on the bed
06:31and not moving.
06:33But yeah, this was kind of typical of an FBI raid.
06:35You just break down the door with overwhelming force,
06:38grab everybody inside,
06:40and then sort it out from there.
06:41He destroyed the message
06:44that had been folded up in the nickel.
06:46It was printed on something called flash paper.
06:49Flash paper combusts practically instantaneously.
06:52when you set a match to it
06:54or a cigarette or something like that.
06:56But it also can fall apart
06:57when it comes into contact with something else
06:59like water or, in this case, paint.
07:02He realizes he's in trouble in this scene.
07:04And at least this way,
07:06they're not going to recover the message.
07:23Let's pause right here.
07:24You know, we all love movies
07:26with the big explosions
07:27and the driving music.
07:30Those kinds of things don't happen
07:32in real life, of course.
07:40Let's pause right here.
07:42CIA officers use disguises all the time.
07:45Every day, somewhere around the world,
07:47dozens of CIA officers are wearing disguises.
07:51We wish they could be that sophisticated.
07:53Normally, a CIA officer's disguise
07:56is going to be what's called a light disguise.
07:59Maybe you are wearing a wig,
08:01maybe you add a little mustache.
08:03Or if you don't wear glasses,
08:04you put glasses on.
08:05The deep disguise,
08:08like we just saw with Angelina Jolie
08:10in this scene,
08:11is very, very unusual.
08:13Midway through my career,
08:14I was asked to participate
08:16in a very sensitive operation
08:18that required a heavy disguise.
08:22But the disguise took six hours to put on.
08:26So every single morning for six weeks,
08:31I sat in a chair, a makeup chair,
08:33and had this disguise put on.
08:35They actually had hired
08:37two Hollywood makeup artists
08:38in order to produce this disguise
08:42and to get it on me every day.
08:43But it's not something you can just throw on
08:45and then just peel off
08:46while explosions are taking place around you
08:49and you're on the run from,
08:50you know, hostile forces just in Hollywood.
08:54Let's skip ahead.
08:56Move, move.
08:58Close it.
09:00Close it.
09:03In a high-threat situation like that,
09:05what they teach you in training
09:07is to get off the X
09:10or get out of the kill zone.
09:12So what we saw with the president
09:14just now in this scene
09:15would be very close to real life
09:18where the idea is just to get the man
09:20out of the area
09:22in which somebody is trying to kill him.
09:24That was true to life.
09:52Let's stop right here.
09:53This is 100% correct.
09:57It was written, directed, and produced
09:59by Oliver Stone.
10:00And Oliver took this very, very seriously
10:04from its inception.
10:06He brought in famed NSA whistleblower
10:10Thomas Drake
10:11to act as the script advisor
10:14and struck up quite a close friendship
10:17and relationship with Ed Snowden
10:19to make sure that the facts were straight.
10:22So what we saw in this scene
10:24is well documented.
10:26It's just the way it played out in real life.
10:28It really was that easy
10:30to copy the files
10:31and take them out.
10:33And I know that the CIA
10:35and NSA
10:36and DIA
10:37and other organizations
10:38in government
10:39like DARPA
10:39have changed
10:41their security protocols.
10:42When I was at the CIA
10:44we had
10:44a traitor
10:46who was exposed
10:47in 1993
10:48or 1994
10:49for Aldrich Ames
10:50because Aldrich Ames
10:52was able to take
10:53Soviet
10:54and then Russian money
10:55for years and years
10:57and he was able
10:58to buy a multi-million dollar house
11:00with an in-ground pool
11:01and a gazebo
11:02and he was able
11:03to drive a Jaguar
11:04all while making
11:05$60,000 or $70,000 a year.
11:07Everything changed
11:08and we had to start
11:09filling out
11:10financial disclosure forms
11:11and providing
11:14investment statements
11:15and just to make sure
11:17that nobody's living
11:18above his or her means.
11:20Well, with Ed Snowden
11:21and his revelations
11:22of mass government
11:24surveillance
11:25of American citizens
11:26all of these
11:27intelligence services
11:29all of these
11:29intelligence organizations
11:31changed their
11:32standard technologies
11:34to make it impossible
11:36to copy and download
11:37information.
11:37And now you just
11:38can't do that.
11:39When Aldrich Ames
11:40was exposed
11:41one of the changes
11:42that was made
11:43at the CIA
11:43was you could no longer
11:45introduce an outside
11:47hard drive.
11:48You can't download
11:49and copy anything now.
11:51The reason why
11:52Ed Snowden
11:53is such an important
11:55whistleblower
11:56in modern American history
11:58is that he was
11:59the first person
12:00to tell us definitively
12:02and to give us
12:04documentary evidence
12:05that the government
12:07was spying on us.
12:09It's a part of NSA's
12:11charter,
12:12its founding charter
12:13that it cannot
12:15spy on Americans.
12:16In fact,
12:17much of what it does
12:18is to spy on Americans.
12:19We didn't know that
12:20until Ed Snowden
12:21told us
12:22that the government
12:23is lying to us
12:24and that they're
12:25spying on us.
12:30Go.
12:31You must at all times
12:32follow the rules
12:33of the art.
12:34In English,
12:35there's a word.
12:36Tradecraft.
12:37Yes.
12:38You must follow
12:39tradecraft.
12:40Everyone you meet
12:41assume they're KGB.
12:42Waiters,
12:43hotel staff,
12:44my driver,
12:45everyone.
12:46Even if they are not
12:47actual KGB officers,
12:49they still make reports
12:50to KGB.
12:52Every Russian
12:53is an eye of the state.
12:55Every room you're in
12:57assume it is bugged.
12:58Even inside our embassy.
13:00Especially inside
13:01your embassy.
13:02Pause it here for a second.
13:04Literally all of that
13:05is true.
13:07And not just true today.
13:08It's been true
13:09really from the beginning
13:11of the Cold War.
13:13Tradecraft is really
13:14the single most important
13:15thing to keep in mind
13:16when you're in the midst
13:17of an operation like this.
13:18Often times
13:19when married couples
13:20are both intelligence officers
13:22and they both have access
13:23to the classified information
13:24and they both understand
13:25the risks involved
13:26in operations.
13:28It's usually the wife
13:29telling the husband
13:30don't do it.
13:31It's too risky.
13:32Almost always the husband
13:33says I'm going to do it.
13:35That's just a life
13:36in espionage.
13:37We all understand
13:38the risks that we have
13:39to undertake.
13:40We've convinced ourselves
13:42that we're the good guys.
13:43It's to keep the country safe
13:44to serve the American people
13:46or in this case
13:46the British people.
13:47And that is exactly
13:48how operating in Moscow
13:50was during communism.
13:53You couldn't take two steps
13:55without half of the neighborhood
13:56reporting your activities
13:57to the KGB.
13:58But he had espionage
14:01to carry out.
14:02And so you have to go in
14:03with a plan.
14:03And you can only have a plan
14:05when you've mastered
14:06the tradecraft.
14:07You have to be a seasoned spy
14:09to be able to get away
14:11with something like this.
14:12I was once in a friendly country
14:14in Eastern Europe.
14:16I left my hotel room
14:17to start a surveillance
14:19detection route
14:20to a meeting.
14:21And I realized
14:22I had forgotten my watch.
14:23So I went back
14:24to the hotel room
14:25and there was a man
14:27a maintenance man
14:29in my hotel room
14:30and he had my telephone
14:32unscrewed.
14:33I said,
14:33what are you doing?
14:34He said,
14:35I'm fixing the phone.
14:36I said,
14:37there's nothing wrong
14:37with the phone.
14:38And he said,
14:39but now it works
14:41even better.
14:42And I just shook my head.
14:43This was a friendly country,
14:45an allied country.
14:46So imagine what it was like
14:48in the Soviet Union
14:49in the 1950s.
14:51Exceedingly difficult.
14:53Let's skip ahead.
14:54The KGB also uses lip readers.
14:57You won't be able
14:58to tell who they are.
14:59So never discuss
15:00anything sensitive
15:01unless I do first.
15:03An important point
15:04made in this scene
15:05is that everybody
15:06is working for somebody.
15:09You have to assume
15:10that everybody
15:12is a bad guy
15:14or is working
15:15for the bad guys.
15:16These services
15:17will keep databases
15:18for when their people
15:20travel overseas.
15:21For example,
15:22if I go to Moscow
15:23and they put me
15:24in the Hotel Petrov,
15:26I'm going to go
15:27into my database
15:28and say,
15:29they put me
15:29in the Hotel Petrov
15:30and I was in room 410.
15:33Well,
15:34the reason why
15:35the room is important
15:36is because
15:37if they put
15:38every American
15:39in 410,
15:40we know that
15:40410 is bugged.
15:42If they put Americans
15:43in 410,
15:44510,
15:45610,
15:45710,
15:46810,
15:46etc.,
15:47we know that
15:47the bug
15:48runs along
15:49that entire
15:51column,
15:52which is also
15:52not uncommon.
15:54And so,
15:55you just have to
15:55assume that
15:56everybody's a bad guy
15:57and protect your
15:58information
15:59and your identity
16:00and your activities
16:01at all costs.
16:06You want to give me
16:07your clearance level?
16:08I'm a
16:11hired contractor.
16:13Well,
16:13I usually don't
16:14make a habit
16:15of giving civilians
16:16who corner me
16:17in underground
16:17parking structures
16:18classified information.
16:20Pause it here
16:21for a second.
16:21There are interactions
16:22routinely between
16:24Homeland Security
16:25agents and contractors.
16:27Not like that.
16:28If I were
16:28a federal agent,
16:30Homeland Security,
16:30FBI and a contractor
16:33approach me like that,
16:34tell them to go
16:34fly a kite.
16:36I don't know
16:36what information
16:37you're cleared for.
16:38And even if you
16:39were cleared,
16:40you don't have
16:40a need to know.
16:41So get out of my way.
16:42No,
16:43there are no agents
16:45at the CIA.
16:46The agents
16:46are the people
16:47that the CIA recruits
16:48to provide information.
16:49But if you're
16:50a CIA employee,
16:51you're a CIA officer
16:52and you are never,
16:53ever,
16:54under any circumstances
16:55addressed as
16:56Agent Smith.
17:02It's me giving
17:02my gun to a traitor.
17:05Yeah,
17:05that's right.
17:06I know the truth.
17:08That gone?
17:10That was
17:10from a friend
17:10of mine in Miami.
17:12It's fishing.
17:13Fiscados.
17:14Fish,
17:14fish.
17:17Name the hotel
17:18of where you stay.
17:39Let's stop right here.
17:40So if you're
17:41in the car
17:42with a hostile asset
17:43and your cover
17:44is blown,
17:45you just have to think
17:46as quickly as you can.
17:48And as they taught us
17:50in training,
17:50get off the X,
17:51get out of the kill zone.
17:53If that means
17:55attracting hostile
17:57gunfire
17:57from the local police,
18:00so be it.
18:01You have to do
18:01whatever you can
18:02to protect yourself.
18:04He did the right thing
18:06in that he did
18:07what he could do,
18:08the only thing
18:09he could do
18:09and that was
18:10to get out,
18:11to create chaos,
18:12in this case
18:13flip the van over,
18:15hope you survive it
18:17and then try to get out.
18:19I'll add too
18:19that in training
18:21at the CIA's
18:22training facility
18:22called The Farm,
18:23we go through
18:24scenarios exactly
18:26like this one.
18:26We do it
18:27day after day
18:29after day
18:29crashing through
18:31police roadblocks,
18:32knowing where
18:33to hit a car
18:34to crash through it,
18:37how to get out
18:38of situations
18:38like this.
18:39You just never know
18:40when it's going
18:41to present itself.
18:45See that apartment building?
18:47Yeah.
18:48Know anyone
18:48who lives there?
18:50No.
18:50Within five minutes,
18:51I want to see you
18:52standing in one
18:53of those balconies.
18:54Come on.
18:56Did you serve
18:56in Vietnam?
18:57No, I did not.
18:58Favorite color.
18:59I would discuss it
19:00over coffee.
19:01Just lost 10 seconds.
19:06Let's stop right here.
19:08I love this movie.
19:09It's like right
19:10out of the CIA
19:11playbook.
19:12Down to the exercise
19:14where you have to
19:15go into an apartment
19:16building,
19:17talk your way
19:17inside the building,
19:19go upstairs,
19:20come out onto
19:21the balcony,
19:21and signal to your
19:23instructor below
19:23that you made it
19:25into somebody's
19:25apartment.
19:26We had guys
19:27go out and
19:28purchase,
19:29you know,
19:30handyman uniforms,
19:32saying that they're
19:33checking the
19:33safety of the
19:36girders that
19:37hold up the
19:38balconies.
19:40There are a million
19:41different ways to get
19:42inside somebody's
19:42apartment.
19:43That's actually
19:44something that the
19:44Israelis began
19:45that we adopted
19:46in our own
19:47training later.
19:48Elicitation?
19:49There are entire
19:51classes that just
19:52deal with
19:53elicitation.
19:54Let's skip ahead.
19:56Every building,
19:57every room,
19:58every situation,
19:59a snapshot.
20:01I'm sitting here
20:01talking to you.
20:02I'm also checking
20:03the room,
20:04memorizing the
20:05people,
20:05what they're wearing.
20:06Then I ask the
20:07question,
20:07what's wrong with
20:08this picture?
20:08Anything suspect?
20:10You gotta see it,
20:11assess it,
20:12and dismiss most of
20:13it without looking,
20:13without thinking.
20:14Without thinking.
20:15It's just like
20:16breathing.
20:16You breathe,
20:17don't you?
20:17Pause it here
20:18for a second.
20:19For me,
20:19I've been out
20:20of the CIA
20:20for 22 years.
20:22I still take
20:22the seat
20:24that allows me
20:25to look out
20:26at the restaurant
20:27to see who's
20:28coming in,
20:28possibly to shoot me,
20:30just so I'm aware
20:32of my surroundings
20:32and what's happening
20:33around me.
20:34The training
20:34at the CIA
20:35is so intensive,
20:37it's so beaten
20:38into your brain
20:41that years later
20:42you find yourself
20:44still doing it
20:44without even
20:45thinking about it.
20:46I still can't
20:47drive down the road
20:49without constantly
20:50scanning my side view
20:51and rear view mirrors
20:53to make sure
20:54that I'm not
20:54under surveillance
20:55or that some assassin
20:57is not coming up
20:58alongside of me
20:59to shoot me.
21:00It becomes so ingrained
21:02in you
21:02that you never
21:04shake it.
21:05Never.
21:16Nice throw,
21:18bitch.
21:19Let's stop right here.
21:20Ugh.
21:22Where do you begin?
21:23None of that
21:23would ever happen
21:25in real life.
21:26Ever.
21:26Under any circumstance.
21:28First of all,
21:29nobody at the CIA
21:30is even trained
21:30to do stuff like that.
21:32Wouldn't it be so cool
21:33to be like a ninja
21:33and flip through the air
21:35and even if you were
21:36trained like a ninja,
21:37you wouldn't throw
21:38your gun into the river
21:39because you ran out
21:40of bullets.
21:41It's one thing
21:42to convince somebody
21:44that you are somebody
21:45you're not.
21:45It's an entirely
21:47different thing
21:48to be an officer,
21:50CIA officer,
21:51FBI agent,
21:52DHS agent,
21:53Secret Service agent,
21:54whatever,
21:55and go rogue
21:56and just continue
21:57operating as a rogue.
21:59That just never
22:00has ever happened
22:02in the history
22:02of the country.
22:03It's not real life.
22:14Let's stop right here.
22:16Isn't it funny
22:17that they have a sign
22:18that says Federal Bureau
22:19of Investigation
22:20on the inside
22:21of the building
22:22so that as they're leaving,
22:24they're reminded,
22:25oh yeah,
22:25I'm in the FBI.
22:27This is another one
22:28of those like dramatic
22:29Hollywood things
22:30that just never
22:30is ever going to happen.
22:32You don't have
22:33all these uniformed FBI
22:35federal police officers
22:37just standing there,
22:4020 of them,
22:41with their guns pointed
22:43at you
22:43as you're on your knees,
22:45you know,
22:45in a prone position,
22:47got your hands
22:48behind your head,
22:49and then they drag it out
22:50just to get you
22:51to commercial.
22:52It's just not,
22:53not the way it's done.
22:55Raymond,
22:57would always,
22:58over the course
22:59of this entire series,
23:01and it's gone
23:02for many, many years,
23:04many seasons,
23:04he would always do something
23:06that was counterintuitive,
23:07and then he would always
23:09kind of wiggle his way out,
23:10or he would do it
23:11because he had a message
23:12to deliver,
23:13in this case,
23:14to the deputy director
23:15of the FBI,
23:15which is kind of funny
23:16because there are
23:18a whole bunch
23:18of deputy directors
23:19of the FBI.
23:20There's like one
23:21primary deputy director,
23:23and then there's
23:23the deputy director
23:24for counterintelligence,
23:25deputy director
23:26for criminal division,
23:28deputy director
23:28for counterterrorism,
23:29a whole bunch of them,
23:30or any other normal person.
23:32If he were going
23:33to go into the FBI headquarters
23:34to give himself up,
23:37first of all,
23:37he wouldn't go
23:37to headquarters.
23:38He would go
23:38to the Washington field office
23:40or the New York field office.
23:42He wouldn't go
23:42to the headquarters.
23:43There's nobody there.
23:44It's all administrative,
23:45let alone 20 guys
23:46with guns in uniforms,
23:48no less,
23:48to pull guns on you.
23:49But it would be
23:50to deliver a message,
23:51to make a statement.
23:56The administration believes
23:58that the drug cartels
24:00now fit that definition.
24:02Next week,
24:03the president's adding
24:04drug cartels
24:05to the list
24:05of terrorist organizations.
24:07You can understand
24:08how that will expand
24:09our ability
24:10to combat them.
24:12The cartel territories
24:14are fairly stable
24:15at the moment,
24:16but as we learned
24:16in Iraq,
24:17striking your enemy
24:18is a whole hell
24:19of a lot easier
24:20if they're fighting
24:21each other.
24:21Pause it here
24:22for a second.
24:22This is based
24:23on real-life events
24:26at the start
24:27of the second
24:27Trump administration
24:28when the president
24:29decided to classify
24:31the Mexican drug cartels
24:32as terrorist groups.
24:34The mainstream media,
24:36at least the left-of-center
24:38mainstream media,
24:39mocked this decision.
24:41But I wrote
24:43at the time
24:43in an op-ed
24:45that this was
24:46a far deeper,
24:48better informed decision
24:50than people realized.
24:51He didn't do it
24:52to make a political point.
24:53He did it
24:54because it freed up
24:55legal authorities
24:56to use
24:57the intelligence services
24:59and the Pentagon
24:59against the cartels
25:02when heretofore
25:03that had been illegal.
25:04Rather than just
25:05wring your hands
25:06and say,
25:06wow,
25:07isn't it terrible
25:08how powerful
25:08the Mexican drug cartels are,
25:11now you can
25:11sick NSA on them
25:13or DOD
25:14or the CIA.
25:15the CIA generally
25:17doesn't care about drugs.
25:19Drugs are not
25:19normally an intelligence issue.
25:21That's the purview
25:23of the Drug Enforcement Administration,
25:25DEA.
25:26A little bit deeper down,
25:28the comment about
25:29the Middle East
25:30is that,
25:31you know,
25:32at the CIA
25:32you have people
25:33or teams of people
25:35who do
25:36dirty work
25:37and sometimes
25:38the dirty work
25:39is going to be
25:40killing someone
25:41who may pose
25:42a clear and present danger
25:43to the United States
25:45or kidnapping
25:47the son of
25:49a cartel leader
25:50or the son of
25:50a dictator
25:51or the son of
25:52a terrorist leader.
25:54And so we saw it
25:55play out here
25:56in the office
25:56of the Secretary of Defense.
25:58Thank you, GQ,
25:59for having me.
25:59This was a lot of fun.
26:01Please check out
26:02my podcasts,
26:03John Kiriakou's
26:04Dead Drop
26:04on Apple Podcasts
26:05and Spotify
26:06and Briefing Room
26:08on YouTube.