[00:00] Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. We are at the Central Hotel in Athens, the Intelligent and Security Forum conference has just ended. Well, I'm here with a man who has an extraordinary interest. Many of you know him. It's Ton Kyriakou. He is a former executive of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, i.e. the CIA. He is one of the most talked about agents in the world for the
[00:31] various cases he has taken on. He was here today at the conference to speak about issues related to cybersecurity, issues related to intelligence services and intelligence operations. You are Kyriakou. Mr. Kyriakou, good evening. Good evening. Hey, thank you very much for agreeing to speak to Zunglagr. Thank you very much. Thank you. Well, I will ask the
[01:02] questions in Greek and Mr. Kyriakou, because he is of Greek origin, will answer us in English and you will see the translation more easily below. Yes. So, let's start. From your experience, what do you think has changed in the secret services in recent years?
[01:33] Most international services, including Russia and China,
[02:06] are seen more and more as what we call the 800 gorilla in the room. So, what do you think is the most effective secret service on the planet right now, in your opinion
[02:36] and in your experience? Okay, don't tell me the CIA. No. Israel isleion Israel operation upones they blew upers and killed many people this was a
[03:07] war and I said Yeah, it was probably a war crime, but from an intelligence point of view, it was brilliant. Think about the work that was involved in something like this. They had to control the manufacturing of the devices. They had to control the supply chain of the devices and then they had to get the devices into the hands of the people that they wanted to kill incredibly. And they did it. They succeeded. I think they're the best in the
[03:37] world. M. I want to come to ours a little bit, because you have experience and you have information from the time you were in the CIA and now, of course, you collaborate with many, many intelligence officers around the world. How likely is it in your opinion that an episode, a heated episode between Greece and Turkey, so in line with your experience, and in which and in such an eventuality, what stance do you think
[04:07] the United States would take? Gre all worons number tury is soer moreigeranten is even worry for second reason that we can't trust the unit states to come in on the side of gre think unit states to be honest
[04:37] broker in cases needates on grey expism trust no matter who do you think that in a case of a military conflict between Greece and Turkey, our country here Greece will be alone. He
[05:10] will have no allies. I think Greece has the strong support of NATO but espcially the Italians, the French the German British countries that have relations in the first place turkey and the borders are there no changing the Turks can't just take islands or take territory not acceptable so I think that even without American leadership Greece would be okay would be Okay. So in
[05:42] a conflict, do you believe that Greece will stand up to Turkey just fine? They are doing well militarily at the moment. Okay. Well, there is something you know from your tenure here in Greece that would be interesting to share with us. I'm not talking about business, but something you wanted to share with the world who sees us for our country. How long were you here during your tenure here?
[06:28] skilled people economy transformed itself in one generation and they've just attracted business from the biggest companies on the planet a healthy economy a safe place to if I have children still at home Would you live here. Yes. Interesting. Now, I'm going to take you to something else and I would really like you to answer
[06:59] this question because I'm sure that many who are in the services are watching this interview. What is the difference, in your opinion, between the new secret service executives, that is, the new agents who are now entering the market, compared to the agents of your own era? Oh, where I was you were doing your own business. What is the difference between the new agents compared to your era? What do you think
[07:30] has changed things? Two. Yes. Number one, it is much harder to be an intelligence officer today than it was when I was in the CIA. And it's because of the development of technology especially AI and facial recognition software. I don't know how people cross borders now. I had six different passports. How do they cross borders when everything is scanned and saved? Number one. Number
[08:00] two, the advice that I would give is don't let technology take over your job. The job of intelligence officer spies NSA to come to our own secret services here in Greece and end it with this. I would like to ask you, in your opinion, how autonomous
[08:33] our own secret services are today. That is, the National Intelligence Service, because that's what it's called now. Well, from your experience, how autonomous can it be and if you would like to characterize it that way, but describe to us a little about its operational capabilities, always according to your experience. That is, we have a national intelligence service that is good at the operational level relative to other services in the world. Is it effective or does it need a lot of work? Still, in your opinion, it always
[09:05] needs work. Mmm. Grey, need more personnel. They need more training and they need more specialization. You can have a lot of people working on Turkey. You can't have everybody working on Turkey, right? You have you have to have enough money to hlectors to collect the information and analyze to analyze the information and write the information for the use of the
[09:37] minister, the prime minister so that he can make the best informed decisions. It's the same thing that we went through between the 1940s and 1970s United States. You can't just focus on the one enemy. information and then allow ministered policy decision. We need autonomous music services. Yeah. Yeah. They need a lot more money and a lot more people. Okay. Well, let me ask you to
[10:08] send a message to the Greeks who see us. Your own message from your own position, from your own experience with what you have done so far. A free message. Look for the camera. I would say this. Yes. I hope you understand how many Greeks are in the diaspora, how many Greek Americans, Greek Canadians, Greek British, Greek Australians, Greeks all over the world are proud of Greece and proud of the Greek and succeed and grow.
[10:44] Thank you very much. Ame. Good luck with your work that you are still doing. I know. Thank you very much.