Field loadout
=============

Field loadout, what a CIA operations officer physically carried, is something John Kiriakou says he had never been asked before a listener put the question to him in 2026. His answer begins with a caveat that recurs throughout: "It actually depends on the day... and the assignment."

Athens

The heaviest configuration he describes was in Athens. He carried a fully loaded 9mm semi-automatic handgun "in a tearaway fanny pack on my waist," and a fully loaded Smith & Wesson .38 snub-nose revolver on his ankle. A Buck knife went in his back pocket "just in case things turned to shit."

Two spare magazines went in the fanny pack, bringing him to "47, it was either 47 or 49 rounds of ammunition for the 9mm, another six bullets in my .38, and my knife." His summary of the posture: "and hoped for the best."

Pakistan

Pakistan was lighter but not safer. He carried only a 9mm with a single extended magazine, seventeen rounds, in a waist holster.

What he adds about it is the line that gives the entry its weight, and he flags that he is not being flippant: "honest to God, I'm being completely serious in saying this, I would pray to God every morning that I didn't have to pull it out and shoot somebody that day. That's the kind of place Pakistan was."

Cash

The money varied with the day's work. Running a surveillance detection route to meet a source meant carrying "the source's monthly pay plus expenses," and separately money for his own route. On a normal day that came to "between say $2,000 and $5,000 in cash on me." He notes the figure is dated, "this is 25 years ago, so it would be a lot more now", and gives the underlying reason it is carried at all: "intelligence is a cash business."

Operations could run far higher. He recounts requisitioning a van from the embassy motor pool in Islamabad with a colleague, travelling toward Faisalabad, carrying "$2 million in cash in two duffel bags."

His closing qualification is the same as his opening one: "depends on the day, depends on the op. It changes wildly."

See also

- John Kiriakou
- Pakistan
