Greek Ex-CIA Official John Kiriakou Talks to Aljazeera America

(Activist Post) - Recently, my former CIA-agent, whistleblower-pen-pal, John Kiriakou, gave Aljazeera America an interview. The article talks about how the Obama administration is going after whistleblowers and prosecuting them under the Espionage Act of 1917.

In the interview, John tells what his average day is like—rather boring, especially for a person who lived such an exciting and full life before imprisonment. He mentions his cell mates. I guess having so much ‘free time’ on one’s hands allows one to do some introspective thinking. John, apparently, has come to a resolve about speaking out regarding government when he is released from prison. This is how he put it in his letter interview with Aljazeera America:

    I will be out of prison in a year. We are standing at the precipice and we can’t afford to relinquish our rights — the rights our forefathers and soldiers fought and died for — so that professional politicians can keep us living in fear of a terrorist attack that will never come. This will be my new life and I will embrace it.

John, in his last letter to me dated Thanksgiving Day, enclosed a photocopy of the letter the former governor of New Mexico and 2012 presidential candidate, Gary Johnson, wrote to the Director of Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, DC on John’s behalf. When reading Mr. Johnson’s letter, this stood out for me:

    Mr. Kiriakou has served his country admirably in the clandestine services – earning awards inside and outside of the CIA. Beyond his medals, he had the honor of leading a raid in the AfPak region that captured Abu Zubaideh, the then third-ranking official in AlQaeda.
    And while the events leading to his incarceration are in the public record, the full extent of Mr. Kiriakou’s service is not. Mr. Kiriakou has done more in service of our country that neither he nor the CIA are able to disclose.

Also in that Thanksgiving Day letter John says that he was denied nine months of halfway house, and that the prison administration put in for six months. Furthermore, if that six month-halfway house deal is approved, John will be released from the Federal Correctional Institution at Loretto, Pennsylvania, November 1st, 2014. Now, that’s something to look forward to in 2014. I just hope there will be as big a welcome back party for John as there was a send-off to prison party.

If anyone would like to send a Christmas card to John, I think he would appreciate receiving one, as it could brighten his day.

Here’s the address:
John Kiriakou #79637-083, Federal Correctional Institution, PO Box 1000, Loretto, PA 15940.

Notes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage_Act_of_1917
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/12/5/jailed-whistleblowerstoedwardsnowdendonatcomehome.html