Kiriakou's personal anecdotes
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John Kiriakou has told several personal anecdotes unrelated to his intelligence career.

Andy Warhol

As a college senior with four unplanned days in New York, Kiriakou, who grew up near Warhol's hometown of Pittsburgh, decided to track down Andy Warhol. He found the Factory and met Warhol, whom he describes as quiet and meek but friendly enough to give him an autograph.

The Congo anecdote

At a conference in Washington, Kiriakou recounts a conversation with the vice president of the Congo, who told him: "The Americans always promised us democracy, but the Chinese always gave us food. What do you think we needed? We didn't really need the democracy."

The Zelle suspension

After writing a paid, roughly 4,000-word article about his trip to Cuba for ScheerPost, Kiriakou says his payment was sent via Zelle with a memo line referencing the article's subject, Cuba. This triggered a sanctions-compliance suspension of his Zelle account; his appeal was then misdirected to an address in Arlington, Texas, rather than his actual home in Arlington, Virginia.

See also

- John Kiriakou
