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Posted by Joshua Scheer
Welcome to Deep Focus, where former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou cuts through the fog of official narratives and answers your questions with the kind of candor Washington still hasn’t forgiven him for. Fresh off crossing the 100,000‑subscriber mark. John dives into another wide‑ranging Q&A that exposes the inner workings of U.S. intelligence, the corrosion of democratic oversight, and the geopolitical power plays reshaping the world in real time.
In this session, John tackles everything from the CIA’s internal rot and the politicization of intelligence, to the quiet deals shaping U.S. policy in Venezuela, Taiwan, and Ukraine. He breaks down the mythmaking around Iran, the renewed push for a 19th‑century Monroe Doctrine, and the alarming consolidation of presidential power rubber‑stamped by the courts. And as always, he grounds it all in lived experience — from reporting felonies inside the State Department to watching the Inspector General system fail from the inside.
If you want analysis unfiltered by party loyalty, corporate media, or the national security establishment, you’re in the right place.
You can find more of John’s work at his substack
Highlights from John Kiriakou’s Q&A
- Strengthening the CIA’s Inspector General — John argues the IG must have real authority, manpower, and independence after being deliberately excluded from the torture program for years.
- Ending politicized intelligence analysis — He explains how the Bush administration forced analysts to add policy recommendations, violating the CIA’s core mission.
- The IG dismissed his torture concerns — John recounts going to the Inspector General only to be told “we don’t torture,” revealing how deeply the program was hidden.
- Reporting a felony inside the State Department — He describes exposing an ambassador who solicited illegal foreign donations for the Bob Dole campaign.
- Minnesota troop deployment speculation — John doubts the Greenland theory and frames the Minnesota move as political punishment rather than strategy.
- Trump’s Greenland ambitions — He breaks down the threat‑then‑negotiate tactic and why NATO would treat a seizure as an attack on a member state.
- Rare earth metals as the real prize — John suggests U.S. interest in Greenland is ultimately about resource extraction.
- Possible great‑power tradeoffs — He analyzes whether Venezuela was exchanged for U.S. non‑intervention in Taiwan and Ukraine, concluding the foreign policy isn’t that coherent.
- CIA recruitment remains extremely competitive — Despite resignations, the agency still sees thousands of applicants per opening, especially for hard‑language positions.
- How to actually get hired by the CIA — John emphasizes Arabic, Farsi, Pashto, Mandarin, Korean, and Russian as the golden ticket.
- His lifelong path to the CIA — From childhood spy fantasies to Middle Eastern studies at GWU, he traces the personal motivations behind his career.
- What young people should watch in world affairs — He urges vigilance about eroding civil liberties, unchecked executive power, and bipartisan militarism.
- The Supreme Court’s expansion of presidential immunity — John warns that ruling a president cannot be charged with a crime fundamentally alters U.S. governance.
- U.S. and Israeli covert operations in Iran — He cites Israeli media confirming support for MEK‑linked unrest and sabotage operations.
- Iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapon — John references multiple NIEs concluding Iran halted weapons ambitions decades ago.
- Israel as the aggressor in the Iran conflict — He describes Iran’s “strategic patience” in the face of repeated Israeli strikes.
- The Monroe Doctrine is back — John frames U.S. actions in Venezuela as a revival of 19th‑century hemispheric dominance.
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