Title: Iran's Future Explained, CIA Background Checks, U.S. Revolution? | DEEP FOCUS with John Kiriakou
Show: The Deep Focus Show
Date: 2026-03-17
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xurIn4RlhkM
Duration: 41:46

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[00:00] Hi everybody. I'm John Kiriakou and welcome back to an episode of deep focus Q&amp;A. My favorite part of the week. So, before we get into the questions, first I want to say thank you for a couple of reasons. Uh we're adding subscribers like I can't even keep up with it. That is all thanks to you. So, I sincerely appreciate you liking, commenting, sharing, subscribing, and telling your friends

[00:30] and family about us. Means a lot. I also thank you for the incredibly generous uh donations. Again, it's three of us here. We just couldn't do this if it wasn't for you. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I want to start with Dan B and I want to thank Dan B for the very generous $200. Thank you, Dan. Dan says, "Thanks for your insight, perspective, and especially for the great stories. I have two questions. Number one, I had the great pleasure of growing up in Iran in the

[01:00] It pains my soul to see the country getting bombed. The Iranians blessed me and my family with a totally ingrained sense of welcoming, graciousness, and respect that I have not experienced anywhere else. Can the highly educated and moderate population take back the country from the mullahs? What do you think the odds are? And two, do you think that Israel will ever be held accountable for their decades of terrorism, illegal war crimes, apartheid rule, and attempted genocide of the Palestinian people? Or

[01:30] will AIPAC just continue to run things on both sides of the aisle while being largely overlooked by a large percentage of ignorant and apathetic taxpayers? Again, thanks for everything you've done and for your extremely enlightening content. I sincerely hope that you receive a pardon, but if that's not the case, there are many, many citizens who support you fully and the actions you've taken in your selfless actions to expose the truth for the greater good. Mad respect." Thank you very much for that, first of all. Two outstanding questions. So, number

[02:00] one, I'm actually a little jealous that you were able to grow up in 1970s Iran. I'm not sure that we'll ever see a country like like Iran in the 1970s. Um but but first of all, I actually do think that it's possible for the population, which is highly educated and moderate, to take back the country. Um I don't believe that they can do it behind the force of American bombs.

[02:30] Because you know, this this is something that was crystal clear in to to those of us in the CIA in in the 'oughts when we were attacking Iraq, that we would not be seen as liberators. We would be seen as as invaders and occupiers. And this is like a lesson that as a government we just don't learn. Do Iranians love the mullahs? Most

[03:00] don't. Do Iranians wish they had a real functioning democracy? Most do. But bombing them and murdering them from great distances and purposely collapsing their economy is not going to make them love us. It's going to make them rally around their government. And that's exactly what we're seeing. I have to say,

[03:30] Benjamin Netanyahu fed Donald Trump a serious line when he convinced President Trump that as soon as we fired the first missile, the Iranian government would collapse like a house of cards. Nobody who knows anything of it about Iran thought that would be the case. Nobody. And I'm not even sure that Netanyahu believed it, but he certainly convinced Trump that that was it. And so this is just not a way to improve the lives of a lot of the Iranian people.

[04:00] This is certainly a way to improve things for the Israelis. At least they thought so two or three weeks ago because the Israelis benefit from chaos in Iran. If the Iranians are busy fighting themselves, they're too busy then to fight the Israelis. That was the calculation. It's not working out that way. And um I don't think this Iranian government's going anywhere, at least not in the near term. Um two, about Israel and um being held

[04:30] accountable. God forgive me, I don't think the Israelis will ever be held accountable so long as the United States is covering for them. What you described here, terrorism, illegal war crimes, apartheid rule, genocide, it's all true. That's exactly what's what's happening. That's exactly what's taking place. You know, and I would encourage anybody who disagrees with that to go to Israel. Go and see it for yourself. Aside from, you know, Tel Aviv, Haifa,

[05:00] and West Jerusalem, the rest of the country is the world's largest open-air prison. And apartheid is exactly what it is. You know, separate but equal is never equal. And it's worse than separate but equal. It's separate and we're going to kill you and steal your land and murder your children and blow up your buildings. Or you can leave. Which is what we want you to do anyway. That's what the Israeli message is. Uh I believe AIPAC

[05:30] will probably continue to run things here in American politics. Um the Democrats are just as guilty as the Republicans of buckling under the pressure of AIPAC. But I think we may be seeing the beginning of something really great. Over the weekend, Tucker Carlson was referred to the Justice Department for prosecution. Uh he was referred,

[06:00] we thought, he thought, by the CIA for being in touch with the Iranians. He was trying to get an interview uh with uh Iranian leaders. He was not referred to the DOJ by the CIA. He was referred there by Laura Loomer. Laura Loomer is an extremist nut who has been banned for life by Uber, by Lyft, by Target, and by other uh companies because she's guilty of

[06:30] hate crimes against Muslims and specifically Arabs. Um there are not very many people in public life as hateful and angry and bigoted as Laura Loomer. So Laura is doing AIPAC's dirty work here by trying to silence Tucker Carlson. She doesn't know Tucker Carlson at all. This isn't going to silence him.

[07:00] It's going to embolden him. I hope it does because Tucker right now is one of very, very few people who is willing to push back on AIPAC and its outsized influence on American politics. I'm going to I'm going to tweet something today. I'm going to write something today expressing my support of Tucker Carlson on this issue. I think this is a time where we need to stand together and push back against Israeli power in American politics.

[07:30] I will not answer to AIPAC. Tucker will not. Candace Owens will not. And there are others. So we have to encourage people on both the left and the right to stand up against AIPAC, to stand up against Israel, and to stand in support of human rights, whether Palestinian or Iranian or anybody else's. So, thank you for that outstanding question. The next one is from if I'm being quite frank. That's an

[08:00] awesome handle. Thank you for the $25. He says, "Hey Mr. Kiryakou." Or she. Uh just wanted to let you know that you're one of the greatest human beings. Thank you. Please. Thank you for all you do. Thank you. I have three questions. The second is pretty much a more specific version of the first, and the last is a bit selfish. LOL. How deeply does the CIA look into its applicants? Do they bug electronics belonging to potential officers and go over entire digital footprints, or are the background checks more surface-level

[08:30] than one would expect from the CIA? Let me answer that those two first. Um they do a deep dive on you. A deep dive. They're not going to bug your electronics. They don't need to, cuz you're going to just turn everything over to them anyway. Uh if you've got Facebook, Instagram, X, you know, whatever, yeah, they're going to go deep, like to the day that you created those accounts. And they want to make sure that there's nothing that might make them raise an

[09:00] eyebrow. Remember, there are 2,500 applicants for every one job. And so, they can cut you if you look at them cross-eyed. And they'll just go on to the next person. So, while they're not going to like tap your phone or steal your emails or anything, um they are going to go back to the beginning on your socials. Um is there any tip or trick that you've learned in your service that could be of use to someone starting out in marketing and sales? Thank you for existing in my

[09:30] life and for your service to the country. Thank you. Currently manifesting your pardon. Thank you. Yeah, actually, there is something that you can use in daily life in marketing and sales, especially in sales. I tell a story all the time when I speak to corporate groups about having recruited an Al-Qaeda a mid-level Al-Qaeda person. Um It's a very long story. I'm going to make it very very short and cut to the

[10:00] chase. I asked him as I took him to the airport to fly back to his home country with his pockets literally stuffed full of cash. I said, "Why did you allow me to recruit you? I mean, you could have just as soon shot me when I told you who I was and you didn't. You allowed me to recruit you." And he gave me everything I asked him for. And he said without missing a beat, he said, "Because I've been making jihad

[10:30] for 5 years and you were the first person that ever asked me about my family." So, I tell people what I did at the CIA and what you do in sales is really not so different because it's all about the relationship. I said, "It's not going to cost you anything to ask the person who's in charge of, you know, signing that contract, 'Hey, how did your kid do in that Little League game the other day? How's your husband feeling after his appendix

[11:00] surgery? Where are you going on vacation this year?' You know, happy birthday. It doesn't cost you anything to engage people and to take a real interest in them and in their lives and they appreciate it. They want to be liked and they want to like you. And so, give them a reason to like you and you're going to win that sale. And sometimes the sale can be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. SJ Hebb, thank you for the $25.

[11:30] Dear John, thank you for what you did and continue to do. I find your stories important and fascinating. Best of luck on getting your much-deserved pardon. I could ask a thousand questions, but I'll keep it limited to three. My grandpa worked in the Lockheed Skunk Works developing the SR-71 Blackbird. Absolutely incredible. What are the chances and how often did he come into contact with spies? Quite good and probably every day. It is a common joke, but are you aware

[12:00] of any law enforcement or intelligence agencies intimidating a target by threatening to release his or her browser history? Yeah. The Israelis do that all the time. Like literally every day. Yes. Most of the time when you get one of those emails, it's just a scam. 99.99% of the time, you get it a little chuckle, hit delete. But if you have access to classified information and you're getting very specific threats to release your browser history, think Israelis.

[12:30] Did you know Mark Polymeropoulos very, very well? What are your thoughts on his claims of the existence of a miniaturized microwave weapon and its possible use during the capture of Maduro? Thank you so much and keep up the good fight, Sam Head. Thank you, Sam. I knew Mark very, very well and we were friends because his family is from the island of Mykonos and my family is from the island of Rhodes and we used to have this friendly back and forth about which island was better. I still think Rhodes is better. Mykonos is too expensive, too commercialized, and

[13:00] just too many weirdos. And then they rip off tourists there. Anyway, that's not the issue. The issue is Mark Polymeropoulos is one of the most highly respected people in the CIA. He's retired now. He [snorts] rose even more quickly than I did and he became the CIA station chief in Moscow. That tells you how much respect the organization had for him. Mark retired from the CIA because he was suffering from Havana syndrome.

[13:30] And when he went public, and this was a very big step, when he went public, he also released his MRIs. And his MRI shows a traumatic brain injury. Mark had more recent compartments above top secret than I had. I left the CIA more than 20 years ago. But if Mark says that there's a miniature directed energy weapon, a

[14:00] microwave weapon, I believe him. If Mark believes that the CIA experimented on his own on its own people causing Havana syndrome, I believe him. After all, the CIA experimented on on its own people during MK Ultra. And there was never any, you know, price to pay. So, yeah, if Mark Polymeropoulos says it, believe him. He's telling the truth. Our next question is from Izzy KO. Thank you, Izzy, for the $15. Izzy says, "Hi,

[14:30] John. Thank you for all you do." Thank you. "I'm from Kyrgyzstan and I'm so happy to hear that you have a plan to visit." Yes, Ted Rall and I plan to visit Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and uh I think Kazakhstan. I think is the fourth. Anyway, I can't wait to be there. Izzy says, "I'd love to meet you in person and shake your hand." I look forward to it very much. Question. "While much of the world focuses on Russia's isolation, for

[15:00] Kyrgyzstan, a weakened Russia is an existential threat." You're absolutely correct. Currently, Moscow acts as a strategic shield against total Chinese domination. China is actively buying Kyrgyz land and infrastructure. If Russian influence continues to erode, do you see Kyrgyzstan becoming a de facto Chinese vassal state. How can a small nation navigate this great game without being entirely swallowed by Beijing's economic and political expansion? Although my

[15:30] background is in tech, I listened to all of your videos and podcasts because you have an amazing storytelling skill. Thank you. Thanks again praying for pardon. Thank you. Thank you. Wow, these are very important questions and I have to say that I agree with your analysis. Kyrgyzstan is one of those, you know, compare Kyrgyzstan to to Austria in the midst of the Cold War, just getting squeezed and pushed by both the United States and NATO on one side and

[16:00] the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact in on the other and there was practically nothing they could do. But I have to agree with you. One thing about the Chinese that I believe makes them so dangerous is they don't have to invade countries to take them over. They just buy them. Just between us, I'm actually in the process of looking for a little tiny condo in Athens, Greece. It's something that I've aspired to all my life. I'm 61

[16:30] years old now. I'm almost 62. I'd really like to have a place that I can retire to or just go for a couple of months at a time and bang out a book. But the price of real estate is skyrocketing in Athens. Why? Because the Chinese and the Israelis are buying all the real estate. Well, the Chinese are doing the same thing in Kyrgyzstan. They don't need to invade the country because they just buy it. God knows they have the money and it's not just land. They're buying industries

[17:00] like whole industries and in a country like Kyrgyzstan, which really only has Russia to look to for for relief, it's that much more difficult when when Russia is you know, sanctioned by the United States and most of the Western countries and having to worry about itself and its own survival while also at the same time being in a state of war in Ukraine.

[17:30] So, I fear for Kyrgyzstan right now. Um I really seriously look forward to to seeing it with my own eyes. I want to see the beauty of those mountains. I want to meet the people. I want to try the amazing food. And I hope I come out of it with a with a better sense of of day-to-day life and the challenges that Kyrgyzstan faces. Thank you for those excellent questions. Before we go on to the next one, I want to bring you a word from one of our sponsors. I spent 14 years at the CIA. I've watched wars begin. I've seen

[18:00] what happens to economies when the shooting starts. And right now, we are a little more than 2 weeks into a shooting war with Iran. The US and Israel have struck Iran. Iran's supreme supreme leader was was killed on the first day of bombing. Tehran fired back at American targets across the Gulf. Hezbollah opened a second front in Lebanon. Oil just had its biggest single-day surge ever recorded, 25% in 1 day.

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[19:30] and they'll mail you one. C Baller, oh my god, $500. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That goes a long way for us. C Baller says, "Hi John, I took your advice and read Fair Play by James Olson. Thank you for the recommendation. The most troubling aspect of the book to me was the fact that often the contributor would acknowledge that the proposed operation was illegal,

[20:00] and yet still vote to authorize it. In your experience, did the average CIA employee care about the law or about or did the ends justify the means?" Nobody cared about the law. The ends always justified the means. The book also led me to wonder, "What does the CIA General Counsel's office actually do?" Oh, I'm so glad you asked that question. "Are the lawyers rubber stamps for the operators? Do operations go through legal reviews before being approved, or are some operations so sensitive that the lawyers

[20:30] are not read in? Would something like MK Ultra have been reviewed by lawyers before being put into action?" Absolutely fantastic questions. So, let me let me do these one at a time. Um Did the average CIA employee care about the law? No. Plain and simple, no. They didn't care. Overseas, your job is to break the law every single day. Committing espionage is breaking the law every single day. But, they really

[21:00] didn't so much care either about breaking the law here in the United States because there was always this belief that the organization is going to cover for them. And almost all the time, the organization does cover for them. So, even if an operation or a tactic was a violation of American law, the lawyers will stand on their heads to figure out a way to get approval. Um

[21:30] does the CIA General Counsel's office weigh in? What does this General Counsel's office actually do? &gt;&gt; [laughter] &gt;&gt; The General Counsel's office does a few things. Number one, they're the ones that negotiate these contracts with the likes of uh Palantir, for example, or Abraxas Corporation, or you know, any of Elon Musk's various organizations or or, you know, Amazon Cloud Services. They're the ones that negotiate these very complicated

[22:00] uh contracts. Number one. Number two. When you go to Capitol Hill to testify, they're the ones who sit next to you and whisper in your ear to shut your mouth, which is what one of them actually said to me one time. Uh number three. If the leadership of the CIA goes to the General Counsel's office and says something like, and this is a real-life example, "We want to implement a torture program. Make it legal."

[22:30] They will work with the with the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel to redefine the word, you know, is, so that the CIA can do anything it wants. Are the lawyers rubber stamps for the operators? You bet they are. You bet they are. Do operations go through legal reviews before being approved, or are some operations so sensitive that the lawyers are not read in? It depends. So, if something is so sensitive

[23:00] that is go it's going to be handled as a covert action program. There's a very long list of hoops that need to be jumped through. First, let's say John has an idea to overthrow the Italian government. I would go to the covert action staff and I'd say, "I have this idea. I want to overthrow the Italian government. Here's my idea." I give it to them. They They put it in the right format, the right font. They make sure that all the

[23:30] boxes are checked, and then they come up with, you know, the end paper. That paper then goes to the office of European operations. And they say, "Oh, yeah, this is a great idea. Let's Let's overthrow the Italian government." And so they send it to their in-house lawyers, right? There's a lawyer, well, it's usually one lawyer, in the office of European operations. Then that lawyer will send it to the

[24:00] General Counsel's office and say, "Hey, uh we've come up with this plan to overthrow the Italian government." And then the General Counsel's office will say, "Okay, well, our reading of US law is that yes, it would be legal to overthrow the Italian government." And then they send it to the Office of Legal Counsel, OLC, at the Justice Department. And they look at it and they say, "Well, you know, it might not be legal. But if we change happy to glad, and we change yes

[24:30] to probably yes, then then it's it's legal." And then we change those words. And then it goes to the General Counsel at the National Security Council. And then he'll read it and say, "Yeah, the CIA General Counsel says it's legal, and the OLC says it's legal, so I'm going to say it's legal, too." Then it goes to the National Security Advisor for a signature. If the National Security Advisor signs it, then it goes to the president with a

[25:00] recommendation that he sign it, and then he signs it, and then the CIA overthrows the Italian government. That's what happened in 1949. That was the CIA's very first covert action program. Um So, yeah, there are legal reviews, if that's what you want to call them, cuz that's exactly what they did for the torture program. It went from the counterterrorism It went from the covert action staff to the counterterrorism center lawyer to the general

[25:30] uh counsel to OLC to the NSC general counsel to the NSC to the president, and then we had a torture program. Um you ask if something can be so sensitive that the lawyers are not read in. No, but a lot of things are too sensitive for the Inspector General to be read in. So, if I had gone to the Inspector General to complain about the torture program, the response would have been, "Torture program? What in the world are you

[26:00] talking about?" And because the Inspector General wasn't read in, I could have been prosecuted for espionage for telling him. And he's an internal high-ranking CIA oversight person. Would something like MK Ultra have been reviewed by the lawyers before being put into action? Yeah. But, I mean, the CIA when it comes down to brass tacks an outlaw organization, so does it really matter in the end?

[26:30] Matt Sperling, thank you for the $15, Matt. Matt says, "Hi John, I'm a graduating high school student who will be backpacking in Europe this summer." Buddy, I'm very happy for you. Your description of Prague inspires me to visit. You're not going to regret it. Given your extensive travel experience, what What places are particularly lovely that I should check out? I wish you good luck on your pardon. Thanks for being an inspiration. Thanks for that great question. I got to tell you

[27:00] I studied abroad my junior year. I studied in London. I was living with my girlfriend. Don't tell my parents. No, just joking. My parents are dead. Um I was living with my girlfriend and at the end of the year we took 3 months backpacks and we went all over Europe. I remember thinking at the time I was 20. I remember thinking I will never be as happy as I am now. And I'm I'm a happy person, but I was

[27:30] I've never been as happy as I was that summer traveling with Mary Jane. Shout out to Mary Jane. We're still in touch. We're Facebook friends. And um And I learned a lot and that's that summer gave me the travel bug, Matt, that I've never I've never been able to quench. I've been to 72 countries. I'm going to add at least a half a dozen more this year, which I'm really proud of. Been to 48 of

[28:00] the 50 states. I'm going to get to Idaho and Hawaii one of these days. I hope in the next year. But I would strongly strongly urge you not to miss Greece and Italy. Even when you're in Greece, if you're on one of the islands, just take a ferry over to Turkey and just do a day trip even to Turkey. Or if you've got a few days, go to Istanbul for a few days. One of the most beautiful countries, or I should say the most physically beautiful country I've ever seen in my life is Oman. Oman's hard to get to. You

[28:30] pretty much have to do it through Dubai, Doha, or Abu Abu Dhabi. Um but um try to get to Oman one of these days. You've never seen natural physical beauty like in Oman. If you're interested in history, the most incredible place that I have ever been in my life is Syria. First of all, some of the loveliest people you'll ever encounter anywhere in any country.

[29:00] Damascus is incredible. The things that you're looking at are mentioned in the Bible. They're so old. Because there's no tourism, the Greco-Roman ruins are virtually untouched. You can say the same about Jordan, as well. Especially Jerash, up north along the the Syria-Jordan border. Absolutely incredible. So, this summer, high school student, get a good backpack, a light one. Get a Eurail Pass, or um what did they call it? Inter- Inter-something Pass. I

[29:30] forgot what it was. You're never going to regret it. Have a fantastic time. Don't miss Greece and Italy. Flow W, thanks for the 10 bucks. Flow says, "Hello John Kiriakou. I am a recently um I'm I'm a recent early high school graduate, and I've been looking at US history. I know this is a dicey question, but do you believe that the correct group took credit for 9/11? And do you think there was any other foreign involvement? Prayers for your pardon,

[30:00] and best of luck with your pension. Thank you." I believe that Al-Qaeda did 9/11. But, I believe elements [snorts] of the Saudi government were involved. I know I know for 100% fact that elements of both the Saudi government and the Saudi royal family were involved. Um those three royal family members are no longer alive. I might as well just explain it. Look,

[30:30] when when we caught Abu Zubaydah on the night of March 28th, uh 2002, we also confiscated his diary. I was leafing through the diary while I was sitting at the of his bed, he had the cell phone numbers of three Saudi princes. And I reported this back to headquarters, and headquarters just lit up on the Saudi royal family and said, "Look, either you get a hold of your family or we're going to do it, and

[31:00] we're going to start killing people, and some of them are going to be named Al Saud." So, we said, "We want to talk to these three princes." Well, next thing you know, one dies on the operating table during bariatric surgery. The second one was killed in a one-car crash on the Riyadh to Jeddah highway. And the third went camping in the desert and died of thirst.

[31:30] And then we couldn't interview them. So, yes, I believe the Saudis were involved. I believe the Israelis knew about 9/11 before it happened, and that's why we ended up with this inordinate number of of Israeli intelligence agents in New York that day. And that's why we ended up with the so-called dancing Israelis because they knew it was going to happen. They did nothing to stop it on purpose because they knew that we would attack Muslims,

[32:00] and we killed what, 2 million Muslims over the next 20 years. And that was exactly what they wanted us to do. It's kind of an ugly story. Burna, you mesmo. Forgive me. Uh thank you for the uh 2790. Hey John, thanks for being a voice of sanity in the middle of all this chaos. I've got two questions for you, a serious one and a dumb one. So, without further ado, the serious one.

[32:30] How would it work if a president wanted to release a prisoner from Guantanamo? For example, Abu Zubaydah. Could the president straight up pardon and release him? Or there's more to it? Before the the so-called dumb question, and and there is no such thing as a dumb question. Let me answer that one. I will tell you that President Biden had decided to release Abu Zubaydah.

[33:00] There was no public announcement. He was doing it very quietly, and he decided Abu Zubaydah was innocent. He had been never been charged with a crime. He had been tortured mercilessly by the CIA, and it was time to release him. The reason why he wasn't released was that we could not find a single country that would agree to accept him. And then Donald Trump was elected. And so, there's not a snowball's chance

[33:30] in hell that Donald Trump is going to release Abu Zubaydah. He's going to have to wait until the end of this term and hope that a progressive Democrat, somebody with an open mind, wins the presidency. I am on record publicly as saying that Abu Zubaydah should be released. He should have been released years ago. As soon as we realized that he was not the number three in Al-Qaeda. That he was not guilty of of war crimes or crimes against humanity. And that we couldn't charge him with a crime anyway because we'd tortured him.

[34:00] He should have been released. So, I I pray that the man is released, and I pray that somebody agrees to accept him. Now, the dumb question. What was the unusual drink from the hunting lodge in Eastern Europe? &gt;&gt; [laughter] &gt;&gt; So, this is a story that I tell in my book. I recruited a very senior military officer, like very senior, in Eastern Europe, and we met several times at a hunting lodge in the mountains

[34:30] east of the capital city. And um and I made the mistake of ordering an ouzo and orange juice. Now, orange juice is usually not mixed with ouzo. Almost always it's either straight or it's mixed with water. Occasionally, you could mix it with Coke. Um I I drank it with orange juice. My grandmother drank ouzo and orange juice, and she's the one that, you know, made me think of it. And it's delicious and it's refreshing and just wonderful. Give it a try. Ouzo's strong, and you have to

[35:00] like, you know, anise. It tastes like black licorice. I love black licorice. But uh yeah, ouzo and orange juice. So uh enjoy. Let me know how you like it. Folks, I'd like to uh give you a a word from our second sponsor. If there is one thing that we have learned over the past few years, it's that access to medication can change quickly depending on politics, regulation, and corporate influence. That is why it is important

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[36:30] and I did John 10 and I got 10% off my inhalers. Can't live without them. EJ Dub, thank you for the $5. Says, "Hi John, two questions. Based on what you've seen in countries around the world in various states of revolution, can you credibly predict if revolution is likely to occur in the US in the next 5 years? Why or why not?" And there's a second question, but I want to answer that one right off the

[37:00] bat. I could see revolution if the president attempts to cancel the midterm elections or the 2028 presidential election. I wouldn't be surprised to see the military make a move. I think we'll see people in the streets bigger than we saw in 1968. It could lead to something akin to the situation in the country in 1861.

[37:30] And I don't say that lightly. I'm I'm genuinely worried. I'm genuinely worried. Second question is, "As a Russian-American, I'm constantly stressed about relations between my two countries. What is your take on the current state of relations and where do you think it's headed? Thanks in advance for answering and thank you for your bravery." Thank you. Um you know, 4 years ago I was invited to lunch at the Russian ambassador's residence. There is no Russian ambassador in Washington anymore.

[38:00] Um he finished his his tour and um and we haven't accepted the credentials of of the next ambassador. But the reason he invited me and seven other independent journalists to lunch was to ask us if there were areas in which Russia and the United States could cooperate even during a time of war. And I said, yes. Think specifically of counterterrorism, counternarcotics, and counterproliferation.

[38:30] Right? Counterterrorism, everybody loses if there isn't cooperation. Counterproliferation, everybody loses if rogue nations or organizations develop nuclear weapons. And counternarcotics, you know, drugs are killing all of us, whether it's fentanyl or heroin or whatever. But we don't cooperate with Russia on any of those things. I am genuinely distressed by relations

[39:00] between the United States and Russia. I I blame the United States a lot because Russia asked asked repeatedly in the 1990s and early 2000s to join NATO. We should have welcomed Russia into NATO. And the fact that in 20 2014, we actively sought the overthrow of of the democratically [snorts] elected government of Ukraine and we replaced it with a pro-American government. That was an existential threat to the Russians. We promised them repeatedly that we

[39:30] would not expand NATO to their borders. We did it anyway. And so the Russians concluded that they just simply couldn't trust us. And that's why they moved into Ukraine. So I'm I'm distressed and I I don't see relations improving anytime soon. I hate to say. Kevin, thanks for the $10, Kevin. Kevin asks, do US military and CIA use Signal Messenger operationally in the field and or for command and control

[40:00] even though it's not approved as they trust it more than the official secure line sometimes. I hear basically every politician in Washington is on it. Yeah, every politician in Washington is on it. And governmental leaders are on it, which is a grotesque security violation. CIA officers are forbidden forbidden from using Signal messenger. Why? Because there's a backdoor. CIA and NSA have access to Signal. And if the CIA and NSA do, you have to assume that the

[40:30] Russians do, the Chinese do, the Israelis do, probably the French, probably the British. God knows who else, the North Koreans, the Cubans. They're smart enough to. So, US military is not supposed to use Signal. CIA is not supposed to use Signal. Um they may have developed their own um their own app, but it has to be so like crazy encrypted. I'm not even sure how it would work in the field.

[41:00] Good question. Well, thank you very much. Um I again, I can't tell you how much I appreciate the the fact that you have trusted us with these questions and conversations that that you've subscribed. The numbers are just nuts. I can't even believe it. They just continue to go up literally every single day. It's wonderful. Thank you for that. Thank you for sharing and liking and subscribing and telling your friends and family. Please keep it up. Thank you for your donations

[41:30] and thank you for your outstanding [music] questions. Please keep them coming. We'll see you next time.
