[00:00] Hey everybody, I'm John Kuryaku and this is the briefing room Q&A segment. As you know, I love the Q&As's more than anything else and we've got a whole bunch of them. I apologize that we can't get to every single one because there are literally thousands, but we've got 21 good ones and a lot of people ask the same question that other people do. And so we're going to try to kill two birds with one stone in a couple of examples. So the first is from Batul. Batul asks a
[00:31] very practical question. John, how did you combat boredom when you were a case officer? That's a great question. You know, it was generally very exciting to be a case officer. I loved operations. I loved conceptualizing the op the operations. I loved like meeting with the station chief and deputy chief and the chief of ops and this guy and that guy and the other guy and sometimes foreign liaison and coming up with plan A, B, C, and D. But sometimes you have
[01:01] to do surveillance and surveillance is a lot of hurry up and wait and you just kind of sit there. In cases like that, there's nothing you can do. You're just going to have to tough it out and still try to remain alert and pay attention. But if I was if I was in a part of the week, let's say, where there was just not a whole lot going on and I was bored, I would jump in the car and just drive in a direction that I normally wouldn't drive. Whether I was in Abu Dhabi, Manama, Riad, Athens, London,
[01:34] this place, that place, Bangkok, it didn't make any difference. get to know the city like you know your own hometown because you're going to be able to figure out cool cover stops, cool cutthroughs that you didn't know existed. Um parts of town that you should probably stay out of like refugee camps for example or giant police headquarters. So I would just go out and and drive around and try to come up with with roots. Even my my first wife
[02:08] commented when I first started doing this like what are you doing driving around all the time and I said honest to God by the time we leave Athens I am going to know this city better than 99% of Athenians and and I did and it was just because I drove around constantly to not be bored. Good question. Number two is from Nate. Hey, John. I'm curious as to what percentage of all the things that happened throughout your CIA career you're allowed to discuss with the public. Also, would there be different
[02:39] repercussions if you blew the whistle and or declassified something other than the torture program? Huge fan. Thanks. Thank you. Also a great question. Uh, and a little bit complicated. So, what percentage of all the things that happened throughout my CIA career am I allowed to discuss in public? Literally everything that I have discussed in public, I have gotten cleared by the CIA's publications review board. You know, I see this from uneducated uh people. Or maybe they're not even people. Maybe they're bots. Uh when they
[03:11] comment, he's not allowed to talk about that stuff. He's making it all up. No, I didn't make a single word of it up. I got it cleared, which took 22 months to do, and that's why I'm allowed to talk about it. That's also why I tend to repeat the stories because those are the stories that are cleared. So, in terms of what percentage of things in my career that I'm allowed to talk about, I'd say I'm
[03:43] probably allowed to talk about a third. About a third. The rest of it either remains classified or is yet to be declassified through mandatory declassification. And if I had blown the whistle or declassified something other than the torture program, that would have been likely a violation of the Espionage Act. And so they probably would have come down on me even harder. Remember when I blew the whistle
[04:13] on the torture program, fully 50% of the country was opposed to torture. And I wasn't the one that that actually revealed the information. I was the one who confirmed the information. The uh International Committee, the Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International had all published papers saying that the CIA was torturing its prisoners before I went public. So I served to confirm those reports. I think if I had talked about something else,
[04:43] the situation would have been even worse for me. Number three, Alec Wayne. Hello to the JKBR team. I'm a huge fan of John and the great insight he brings to these troubled times. Thank you, Alec. I listen to audio books and podcasts while at work and always start listening to JKBR as soon as it drops. Appreciate that. Doing Time Like a Spy is one of my favorite non-fiction books I've read. Thank you. You know, I just reread Doing Time Like a Spy. Doing Time Like a Spy was my second book and I wrote it in I wrote it in prison uh between 2013 and
[05:17] 20 the end of 2014 and I haven't read it since 2017. I reread it and I was surprised and disappointed at how angry it is. I didn't realize how angry I was when I was writing it. So my apology for that. Alex says, "My question is, are there any fiction books that you would recommend to anyone?" Yeah, there there are a couple. So, I I pulled them up. I made a I made a little list of the books that I've read that I thought were so
[05:48] great. Um, and now I don't know what happened to them. Here they are. Okay. The the first one of the genre that I read, spy fiction, was during the liberation of Kuwait in 1991. I went into Kuwait City with the Marines. As I've said before, the whole country is on fire. There's no electricity. There's no gas. We're eating cold MREs. But I brought a book with me. I b I brought The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John Lar. And I was hooked.
[06:22] Um the the Marines set up a camp uh in northern Kuwait and started to fly in by helicopter important things like a Burger King. Seriously, a commissary. And in the commissary they brought books. And I I begged him, "Please, please, you got to bring some John Lare." And so I went up there one weekend and sure enough they had Tinker
[06:52] Taylor Soldier Spy which was just as good as The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. I loved it. There was another book um called Eye of the Needle by Ken Flet. I had vaguely heard of Ken Flet and I had heard generally good things. So I read Eye of the Needle. It's it's set in World War II. Absolutely loved it. And I think that you'll uh I think that you'll like all of those. Good question. Number four is from Dylan Hernandez. Hello, John.
[07:24] You're one of the most inspiring people of the last few years. Thank you, Dylan. Not only because of your career in the CIA, but also because of all the incredible things you've done and accomplished since then. You know what? I'm going to interrupt the question there. Somebody criticized me on Twitter the other day, and I got a chuckle out of it. They said, uh, all these stories are lies. Nobody could have done stuff like that. Well, you know what the funny truth is? Every CIA officer has stories like mine.
[07:55] Every single one of them. It's just that I talk about them. I went to the trouble of getting them declassified. So, I'm nobody's special. Certainly, I'm really not. Everybody's done stuff like this. They're just not out there talking about it. So, here's Dylan's question. What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about working for the CIA? Love and support from Spain and great podcast. Thank you, Dylan. I'm going to give you two different answers. [snorts]
[08:26] I think probably the biggest mis misconception is that CIA officers sit around all day plotting how to subvert the government, kill foreign leaders, protect Jeffrey Epstein, blow up the World Trade Center. None of that's true. By and large, they are very smart, highly educated, very dedicated patriots
[08:59] who want nothing more than to serve the country and protect the American people for the most part. On the other hand, and this is mostly in operations, there are a lot of very bad people, a lot of people who are inclined to violate US law. Remember, when you're a CIA case officer, your job is to is to break foreign countries laws, not American law. But many of these guys are very happy to break the law here in the
[09:30] United States. That's why we need robust congressional oversight. That's half of the answer. The other half is, and this is something that I absolutely hate, there are a lot of mental midgets out there, mostly on social media, and they will breezily, off-handedly say, "Want CIA? Always CIA." Well, you must have taken the short bus to school if that's all you can come up
[10:02] with. First of all, it's just simply factually not true. If you care about the truth, the truth is when you resign from the CIA, you don't really resign. You take a one-year leave without pay. And that way your security clearance remains intact. So if during that one year there's an operation for which you are uniquely qualified or there's a source who will only speak
[10:33] to you which believe me happens that gives the CIA the right to pull you back in for that one year. If you don't get pulled in for that one year then your resignation becomes effective and you're no longer a CI employee. They make a very big deal about shredding your badge on the one-year anniversary of your request to resign. Now, there are a lot of dumb dumbs out there who apparently think that Ed Snowden
[11:06] is still in the CIA, that Ray McGovern is still in the CIA, Larry Johnson is still in the CIA. I somehow gave up my freedom, my pension, my career, my marriage, my children because I'm somehow still in the CIA. So that is a huge misconception, but just among the dum dums who are out there on the internet. Wow, the
[11:37] internet's a dangerous place, man. Thank you, Dylan. [snorts and gasps] Number five, HVAC 4053G. Hi, John. My name is Jeff. I live in the middle of the country in Oklahoma, a proven conservative state, and I identify as such on many issues. I'm truly fascinated by you and your story. You, in my opinion, are a true patriot. Thank you, buddy. Your recall of detail and your knowledge makes you a fantastic storyteller. That's something my I'm actually very proud of. Um, my boss has over the years noted it multiple times
[12:08] that I had a great memory for detail. My question, if you were to get a pardon, and I truly hope you get it, would you ever consider politics? Or more specifically, would you run for president? I would vote for you every day of the week and twice on Tuesdays. Thank you, buddy. Good luck with your pardon, best wishes, Jeff. That is very touching and thank you very much. I'm going to speak very carefully here. This morning, I had breakfast with a member of Congress. I will not say his name,
[12:39] but I will say most Americans know who he is. Most of his fame comes from outside his district. He will no longer be a member of Congress effective January 3rd. And so we were talking about podcasting and writing books and, you know, consulting on on TV news networks and stuff like that. He's trying to, you know, plan out his life come January 3rd.
[13:09] I showed him a comment that somebody had made on another podcast in which the commenter said that he and I should run for president and vice president. And he loved it. He he laughed out loud in the restaurant this morning. And um I said, "So give it to me straight. Are you running for president?" And he said, "I am not planning to run for president." Which is that quintessential
[13:41] Washington non-denial denial. And I said, "Listen, if you're running for president, I'm all in, but I cannot and will not be your vice president." I said, "I'm a convicted felon. I'm divorced twice and I had a radio show for a while on a Russian radio network. I will drag you right down the sewer. You don't want me, but I do want to be national security adviser. And he's like, "Ah, okay. Let's let's have this conversation
[14:13] again in January." So, would I run for president? I'll tell you a little secret from my early childhood. When I was in second grade at the age of seven, I learned the presidential oath of office by heart. And I remember it. I, John Kuryaku, uh, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States and will, to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. So help me God. 7 years old, I told my
[14:44] parents I wanted to be president. And they got a kick out of it. I don't want to be president or vice president, but I very much would like to be the national security adviser very very much. Um I was talking to a couple of friends of mine yesterday in the labor movement. They're they're high ranking union leaders and they said to me, "Hey, your podcast has caught on and your commentary is caught on and we see you all over the internet. You given any thought to politics?" And
[15:14] I said, I only wish that this, knock on wood, this newfound success had happened two years ago. Because if it had and I had made a little bit of money over the last two years, I would 100% be running against John Federman in the Democratic primary in the state of Pennsylvania. Yes, the timing is not right for me right now, but thank you for asking. Yeah, thank you, Jeff. Number six is
[15:47] Jack Remington. Good morning, John. I'm curious as to what you think about what's going on with Frank Kendall right now and him supposedly leaking classified information about the capabilities of Air Force One. Do you think the US government will try to prosecute him? This is a very important and timely question, Jack. So, thank you. For anybody uh not familiar with the story, Jack Kendall until what, last year, I guess, was the Secretary of the Air Force. MAGA Republican, an acknowledged expert in his in his
[16:19] field, but he said publicly that the Boeing 747 jumbo jet that the government of Gutter gifted to the government of the United States to be used as Air Force One um was not up to standards when it comes to um security. right? You have to have like radar jammers and all kinds of crazy sophisticated classified gear on it. And
[16:49] it didn't. And so when that got out, the president was embarrassed and he got angry and then he had to not take that one and they had to revamp it and then he had to take the old Air Force one. He was he was all angry. Um so he fired Frank Kendall and revoked his security clearance. And now there's a federal grand jury that's meeting to decide whether or not to indict him under the Espionage Act.
[17:20] Listen, what he said publicly helped to keep the president safe. So if I were the president, I would have just said, "Okay, so we're just going to retrofit the jet and everybody's happy." But now it's this big cause celeb. Um, I actually don't think they're going to be able to prosecute him. I think this thing is going to drag out to the point where either the White House loses
[17:52] interest in it or the the 2028 election is upon us and it's just time for everybody to move on. I don't expect anything to come of it. Number seven, Faze Yanka says, "Hey, John, or any member of his team who reads this. First, I would like to congratulate you on your huge success with the channel. Thank you very much. I enjoy watching the briefs, and I hope that you get that pardon you deserve." Thank you. My question is, how did you pick up Arabic while at the CIA, and do you have any tips on learning languages quickly?
[18:23] Also, do you ever plan on coming to Wiltshire, specifically Salsbury in the UK? If you do, I will clear my schedule to be there. Thank you. Best wishes, Fay. Thank you, Fay, very much. I'll answer your last question first. Yes, yes, yes. I want to come back to Salsbury. I was in Salsbury a year and a half ago. I I did 15 dates around the UK and Ireland, and we sold every single seat. It was a It was a test tour,
[18:55] and everything passed the test. Um, when I signed with the creative artist agency, they said, "Well, we're not going to do that anymore. It's better if organizations come to you and want to hire you and you do speeches on a one by one uh on a one by one basis." And just in the past week, they've come to the conclusion that they were wrong. Not to get off on a tangent, but over the last four weeks, I spent a week in Vietnam, a week in Greece, and a week in
[19:27] Egypt, and I met up with my brother-in-law in Seoul. He's married to my sister. We met up in Seoul, and we went to Vietnam together because he's always wanted to be in Vietnam. So, I had called him and I said, "Hey, I'm going to give this speech to in Vietnam. Why don't you meet me in Vietnam and we'll have a good time." So, he met me in Seoul. We flew onto Ho Chi Min City. had a fantastic time. But we were joking at the airport in Salt because a guy came up to me, a Korean guy, and asked for a selfie. And as a matter of policy, I never say no.
[20:01] Never. If it wasn't for you and for people just like you who watch the podcast and come to the speeches and buy the books, I would be living in the backseat of my car. So, I never say no. So, my brother-in-law joked. He said, "Seriously, even in Korea?" And I said, "I don't know, man." I said, "The podcast has taken off and I just love that people are interested in my takes
[20:32] on the news. I love it." And and in the stories that I tell in my other podcast, um, Deadrop. So he said, "I'm going to give you a dollar every time you're recognized in uh Vietnam, but anybody around your speech doesn't count." I I spoke to 350 Australian investment bankers at $20. He said, "I'm not giving you any more money." But it was Vietnamese recognizing me or or Cambodians or La
[21:04] Oceanians or Filipinos or Chinese. It's like they're watching this podcast all over the world. I'm walking. I'm literally in the jungle at the Coochie Tunnels, you might recall from a few episodes ago, and these guys are just staring at me. And I said, "Yes, it's John Kiryaku randomly walking through the jungle of South Vietnam." And they're like, "Oh my god, we didn't
[21:35] think it was you. We weren't sure, so we took pictures. So, I told this story to my agent at CAA and he said, "Well, we're looking at the numbers on the podcast." And he said, "I think we were wrong. I think we need to start talking again about a speaking tour." And the speaking tour would be all around the United States. But my partners in the UK, the guys who had who had managed the entire tour around the UK and Ireland, they've
[22:05] called me three times saying, "Hey, buddy, come on. You got to come back. We got to do it again." And I said, "Yes, we do have to do to do it again." So, I don't have a date. I don't even have a solid yes. I'm saying it's a tenative yes, but I'm going to work hard to make it happen. Okay. How did I pick up Arabic while at the CIA? Oh my god, it was some of the hardest work I ever did in my life. The first time I went to Saudi Arabia,
[22:37] um I sat ac uh on the other side of a partition from a guy who was fluent in Arabic. He ended up resigning from the CIA, not resigning, but transferring to NSA because he was a linguist. And I said to him, Rick, I'm going to go to uh Saudi Arabia for 6 weeks. I'm good with languages. how quickly do you think I could pick up Arabic? And he said, "Oh, you're not picking it up. You're not you're not going to be able to say anything except maybe salamu." I was like, "Oh, okay." I go to Saudi
[23:07] Arabia. [snorts] Forget it. It's just a bunch of squiggly lines and dots and dashes, and I didn't know what the heck I was looking at. So when I got back from Saudi Arabia, I asked my boss if the office would pay for me to take a six Saturday introduction to Arabic course just so I could learn the alphabet and maybe how to order food in a restaurant. He said, "Of course." So I did that. I learned the alphabet. And then in 1993, I was
[23:37] given this rotation to the State Department where I transferred to the American embassy in Manama, Bahrain as the economic officer. But I had to do a year, 11 12 months of fulltime Arabic training. It was from 9 to 4:30, sorry, 8 to 4:30. But I would get into the office at 6:00, put on a pot of coffee, study for an hour, do a 1-hour tutorial from 7
[24:09] to 8, then go all the way through to 4:30, go pick up my son, who at the time was like 3 months old when we started, and take him home, play with him, feed him, bathe him, put him to bed, and then study until I fell asleep. sleep at the desk. And I mean 7 days a week for 11 and 1/2 months. That was a long time ago, 1993. And then
[24:39] I was in Cairo 2 weeks ago with my son. We get in the Uber at the airport. I start talking to the to the driver and my son said, "I can't believe how good your Arabic still is." And I said, "I can't believe how good my Arabic still is. It just kind of came back to me. And I'll tell you, I said on the day that I tested and I tested fluent, um I said to my Arabic teacher, Ibraim Abdullah, I loved Ibraim. I said to him, I feel like you owe me a
[25:12] master's degree cuz I never worked this hard in graduate school. Never. But man, I'm glad I did. I would do the whole thing over again, and I would do it exactly the same way. Number eight, Xavier Kowalio. Hey John, love the videos. Weird question today. This is actually a weird question, but it's kind of fun. In the first Superman movie, the US military takes in Superman for questioning. Hypothetically, do you think the real US government would act this way? And what would your view on it
[25:43] be? To tell you the truth, I think the US government in real life would have tried to kill Superman, which of course they would have failed at because he's Superman and they didn't yet know that his weakness was kryptonite. But uh in the movie, they kind of they were a little bit rude, but they treated him relatively gingerly. The CIA, the FBI, DoD today, they probably would have started by shooting him with a machine gun. Maybe that's my own bias coming out.
[26:14] Number nine, Jake Spates. Hello, John. I've been a huge fan since before your Tik Tok blowup and I've been praying for your pardon. Thank you, buddy. My question is, I'm looking to pursue a job in the FBI, especially in the human trafficking task force, a truly despicable crime. I know that you have your own feelings toward the bureau and was wondering if you could tell me about why or why not I should not join the FBI. God bless Jake. Jake, I think you should join the FBI because we need people like you to change the FBI from the inside. We need good guys to go in
[26:47] there, work hard, and just like at the CIA around year 10 of your career, you're going to realize all of a sudden you're in a position of authority. You're a branch chief, you're a group chief, you're a task force chief, and you can start making changes. Now, on the last episode of uh of Breathing Room, one of the segments that we did was how the FBI is so desperate to hire new people right now that they're actually
[27:18] taking people who admit to frequenting prostitutes or admit to embezzling from their employers. Can you imagine such a thing? So, we need people like you. The FBI needs people like you. And you are right that human trafficking, especially the trafficking of children, is is a heinous and despicable crime.
[27:48] Fully onethird of the prisoners in the prison that I was in were pedophiles. Now, they were divided somehow between clickers, people who clicked on images on a computer, and touchers, people who crossed state lines to actually purchase children. Um, we need an army of people at the FBI to stop that. So, good luck. Number 10, Paul Kerry, what are your makings of the infamous Epstein lookalike, Palm Beach Pete Peter
[28:21] Siml? Moreover, do you think it's a possibility Epstein's either alive or was killed by another person or group? Thank you for that, Paul. I I have some pretty um specific feelings about this. Um I'm confident that that Jeffrey Epstein's dead. And it's not just John saying it. I spoke with his brother at length and his brother told me that he claimed the body at the morg and he escorted the body in the hearse to the crematorium.
[28:52] He [snorts] put his brother in the oven and pressed the button which is common. A lot of people do that with their loved ones. He said Jeffrey Epstein is dead. I cremated him. But he believes strongly that Epstein was murdered in prison. Of course, it's a possibility that Epstein was murdered. Probably a good possibility. I personally believe that Epstein committed suicide. He had the motivation. He had the means. He had the
[29:25] opportunity. But more than that, and in the the days after Epstein's death, I I talked about this at great length on the radio when I had a radio show. Um, people say, "Oh, the the cops, they weren't making their rounds. It's a conspiracy. The cops run." No, the cops never make their rounds cuz they're idiots and they're lazy. And rather than making their rounds, they're
[29:56] sound asleep in the guard booth over here or they're looking at porn on the internet. So, no, they never make their rounds. Oh, the cameras were broken. The cameras are always broken in all the prisons. I even wrote about it in real time when I was in prison. I worked in the chapel. I just could not get guys to stop having sex in the chapel because the cameras were broken and everybody knew the cameras were broken. Or once some footage was released from a camera
[30:26] that wasn't broken, there's a blip. Oh my god, there's a blip. Somebody turned the camera off and then turned it on. No. All the cameras that are operating reset every 24 hours. Not right at midnight, 24 hours from the last time the images were downloaded. So, cameras reset all the time. Now, Epstein was put into a cell with, you know, a a double murderer, a former cop who was maybe it was more than double, maybe it was multiple murder,
[30:57] mass murderer, whatever. So, anything could h could have happened. I personally believe, not strongly, but I personally believe he committed suicide. I would not at all be surprised if somebody finally came out with a smoking gun and said that it was it was a murder. Number 11, Tristan Swaford. Hi, John and team. As always, I want to start by thanking John for his bravery in coming forward with the revelations of torture and for the example he continues to set as a truthteller and a patriot. Secondly, of course, I want to
[31:29] thank the admin team for all the work they do in bringing the show to the rest of us. My question is about honeypotting. Now, you've said many times that the US and CIA specifically does not use honeypotting anymore because we decided on policy that it is better to develop a relationship based on mutual trust and shared interest. That makes sense. But I wanted to ask how much of that decision was fueled by the revelations of the Franklin scandal back at the end of Reagan's second term. Also,
[32:02] there is really precious little about the Franklin scandal online. So, I was hoping that you could share a little more light on the subject as a whole. Highest possible regards Tristan Swaford. Thank you, Tristan. Tristan, I think this is a very important issue. Um, for those of you who don't know what the Franklin scandal was, back in like 1980, I'm gonna say it was like 87 or 88, I was waiting for my CIA clearances to come through. Um, there was a daycare,
[32:34] the Franklin Daycare, this family owned it. I'm going to make a very long story very short. Uh, one of the four-year-olds said that somebody had had acted inappropriately with him. That led to mass panic. A whole bunch of people were arrested. Husband, wife, daughter, son, all arrested and they went on trial. This dragged on
[33:05] for ages. I believe they were convicted, but eventually the convictions were thrown out. My knee-jerk reaction to that case, I remember it at the time, was this couldn't possibly be true because other children would have said something. Well, then other children did say something. And then the defense was that, well, the cops told the children what to say. They're four years old. They're going to do exactly as they're
[33:36] told. There was never any actual proof that any of this took place, but there are still two camps. Those believe that it's true, those that believe that it's not true. If you look online, there's a Wikipedia page about this, and it starts off with language to the effect that, you know, the whole story has been conclusively debunked. Not really. And I'll tell you one of the reasons why I say not really is there's a guy who has written what has come to be known as the definitive book about
[34:08] this case. And I've had him on my other podcast a number of times. His name is Nick Bryant. And his book is called The Franklin Scandal, a story of power brokers, child abuse, and betrayal. Nick Bryant. It's on Amazon. It's been in print for ages. And um and Nick really gets like deep down into the weeds. I've talked to him about this privately and he says, "John, it's true. It happened. I I don't know
[34:38] if it happened or not. I hope that it didn't." But anyway, to get to the the point of your question, could it have been that the decision to stop using honeypotss was hurried by the Franklin scandal? And the answer is sure. Sure. Because the decision to start walking away from honeypotss came in like 19
[35:08] 81 or ' 82. Well, the Franklin scandal broke in 87 or 88. So, we're talking about the same period of time really. So, sure, that could have been the impetus for it. I'm not sure that you'll ever get a CIA officer who was around at the time to come out and say, "Yes, it was the Franklin scandal that made us realize we shouldn't be in the business of X, Y, and Z. I doubt that that'll ever happen, but I don't think that it's a stretch to
[35:39] question the two as part of one hole. Number 12 from Travis. Hi, John. Hope you're doing well. First of all, I wanted to say thank you for your podcast. Thank you buddy. I've tuned in every episode. As per your last episode, you touched base slightly on voter regulations, specifically on mail and ballots. Yes. I would love to know your opinion on the controversial idea of voter ID specifically for federal elections. Some people argue that it is inherently racist while others disagree
[36:09] and say that it is paramount to uphold democratic integrity. I appreciate it and look forward to the next episode. Thank you, Travis. Travis, I really appreciate that because this is a very important and timely issue, especially as we are now a matter of weeks away from uh the midterm elections. I live in the Commonwealth of Virginia and Virginia has always been a voter ID state. Always. You have to show a driver's license or passport when you go to vote. And it's always kind of amused
[36:42] me that people object to this in other states until I really began to understand the background of the issue. I would not say that it's racist to demand an ID. I would say that it's classist. Hear me out. I don't mind showing an ID. I want our elections to be of the highest integrity. And I think that probably means showing an ID to prove that you
[37:14] are who you say you are. But what about poor people who can't afford to get an ID? You know, I I've been poor and you go to the DMV to get a driver's license or a non-driver's identification, 25, 30, 50 bucks. Well, for a lot of people, including me at one point, that was a choice between getting an ID or buying food.
[37:45] And so, the solution is this. The solution is what almost all of the countries of the European Union do. They make the IDs free. So you need an ID to vote. You need an ID anyway just cuz everybody should have an ID, but you don't pay for it out of your pocket. That should be a price borne by government using tax dollars. Yeah. I don't I don't mind showing the ID. Now, as I said in that episode that
[38:16] you that you referenced, um there is almost no voter fraud. Between 3 and 25 10,000ths of 1% of votes have proven to have been illegally cast between 3 and 25 10,000 of 1%. But we should have IDs. Number 13 Yazgi. Hi John, thank you for everything you
[38:47] have done and are doing in the aim of knowledge and education. My question for you is as follows. Over the course of recent history with the likes of the JFK assassination, the possibility of involvement with the death of Charlie Kirk and CIA paramilitary operations that are happening unbeknownsted to the administration or to the president. How can this be? When we say that the CIA and other intelligence agencies are getting too powerful, can it not be as simple as the president hiring layers of command that are on the same program
[39:18] with him in addition to counter intelligence within the agency to root out behaviors of shady actors or overreach, etc. Thanks again. Yes, thank you for putting this problem into plain English. Yes, you're 100% correct. This is why we need real, true, and robust congressional oversight because the CIA, the FBI, NSA, and many
[39:51] elements of DoD are going to push and push and push that envelope just to see what they can get away with. Well, if you've got 60 people on the Senate uh intelligence uh committee and maybe 70 people on the House Intelligence Committee, how in the world are they going to oversee the 100,000 employees that make up the intelligence committee? It's not possible. They can't do it. And
[40:21] I can't tell you how many times I was part of an operation overseas that went bad in one way or another and then the station chief says, "Uh, listen, uh, just between you and me, um, don't, uh, don't inform Congress about this." And I'm like, "Oh, okay." So, yeah, you are absolutely right. Now, I'll tell you what one of the problems is. You make a very important point here um where you say can it not be as simple as the president hiring layers of command that are on the same program
[40:52] with him. Yes, exactly. But the problem is once somebody becomes the CIA director, he gets sucked in. And all of those CIA careerists who have been there 25, 30, 35 years, they draw him in. They make they make him one of their own. Next thing you know, you've got a CIA director who was chosen because of his closeness
[41:23] to the president, but all of a sudden is marching in lock step with the deep state. I mean, that was the whole reason behind the creation of the Directorate of National Intelligence. And now, look at that. It's like a joke. Very important issue. Thank you. Number 14, rice waster. Do you get any choice of weapons in the CIA or do you just have to use whatever they give you and train train you on? Yeah, you don't get a you don't get a choice. They give us um the Glock 9 millmter, which is the
[41:53] go-to weapon. You keep that on a on your waist in a fanny pack or if you're wearing a suit, you have a a holster under the jacket. Or if you want to be, you know, Joe Joe tough guy, you can put a holster uh on your back on your waist. Then they give you a a Smith and Wesson Snub snubnse 38 uh that you keep in a in an ankle holster on your ankle. And then for home protection, we got uh Remington
[42:23] pumpaction 12 gauge. I loved that gun. Oh my god, so much fun. Anyway, um yeah, so the Glock 9mm, the Smith and Wesson 38 Snub, and the Remington pumpaction 12 gauge. Uh those are the only ones that you get. That's it. Now, if you're in security, you're in the office of the director, you're, you know, close-in protection. Yeah, you're going to get an Uzi and all kinds of other crazy stuff, but but the rest of us didn't have any of those.
[42:55] Number 15, Michelle Bolio. Hi, John and staff. First, still loving the show. Keep it up. Thank you, Michelle. I don't understand why you're not on the new show panels. I know, right? What's up with that? You're dead right with many of your predictions, if you will. Thank you. I'm very proud of that, too. I called the Iran War within a day. Within one day. And alternative media have pointed that out and podcasters have pointed it out and friends of mine from the agency have, you know, called
[43:25] and congratulated me. But uh but right, I mean I'm for one reason or another I'm banned by MSNBC. Screw MSNBC. I don't care about them. Um CNN just kind of they used to call me all the time and then it tapered off and now they just don't call at all anymore. Fox calls me all the time. I always say yes. Uh but but that's pretty much it. I don't know why I'm not on the news panels. I'm on the Pierce Morgan show a lot. I
[43:56] was supposed to be on it again today and and they uh had to postpone something came up, but that's I consider that to be a panel show, although it's um it's online only. It's not broadcast. So, I I don't know. So, getting to Michelle's other questions, do you worry your criticism of Trump will tank your chances of a pardon? Yes, I do. But you know, it's not my nature to it's not my nature to gravel
[44:27] and it's not my nature to deny who I am for something like a pardon. Sorry. I spoke with a cabinet member two weeks ago and the cabinet member told me this pardon it's not going to happen for you. And I said I kind of thought it wasn't going to happen but can you tell me why?
[44:57] And the answer was John Ratcliffe hates your guts. John Ratcliffe being the director of the CIA. I said I've never met John Ratcliffe. I've never exchanged a word with John Ratcliffe. And I was told that's just the way it is. John Rackcliffe is representing the institutional feeling of the CIA that they want me to suffer and so I'm not going to get it. I might as well be true to myself in the meantime. And the uh other part of the question is, please
[45:28] talk about the piece of art that hangs over your right shoulder. Yeah. And never give up. Thank you. You're talking about this. You know what? I'm going to try to turn That is Birmingham Race Riot by Andy Warhol. It was printed in 1965. The riot um took place in Birmingham in 1964. This is an Associated Press news photograph that Andy Warhol turned into
[45:59] a silk screen. It was the very first multiple that Warhol made. I have another Andy Warhol hanging right there. It's called SNH Green Stamps. And I have one over here that's a pre-pop piece from 1957 called Happy Happy Happy Everything. And I have actually a Marilyn Monroe upstairs in my bedroom. Um, my only vice is art. I love art so much. Listen, I I don't smoke. I barely drink. I don't do drugs.
[46:30] I don't gamble. I don't do anything. I spend way too much money on art. But I've got four or five Warhols. I have a Fernando Bautterero right here next to me. I've got three Greek artists that I love very much. I have a Jasper John's. I have a Roy Likenstein. I buy almost all of them at auction. And um I'll tell you how I started. When I was a senior in college, I was working at a labor union here in town
[47:01] called the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. I loved it at the UFCW. and they they did a fundraiser one year, like a major fundraiser for to pay for health care for striking workers at a meat packing plant in Iowa. And so my boss, who was just one of the greatest one of the greatest human beings I ever had the pleasure of working for, Marv Rubish, poor Marv, died of a heart attack at the age of 48. I still think about the poor guy. Um,
[47:33] but anyway, Marv asked me if I would volunteer to help the auctioneer by putting on a pair of white gloves just kind of for show and then picking up the pieces of art and putting them on the easel to be bid on. Most of this art was trash. Framed posters, you know, antique ads ripped out of magazines, trash. But at the end of the auction, almost at the very end, the
[48:04] auctioneer had me pick up a signed, numbered, and dated lithograph by Pablo Picasso. And I put it on the easel. And he made this big production where he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is a work by Pablo Picasso, dated 1957. It's called Nudo and it depicts, you know, this, that, and the other thing. serious collectors only. He said people, "Oo ah." So he says, "We're going to start the
[48:36] bidding at $2500." $2,500 was a lot of money in 1986. Actually, I'm going to I'm going to Google it. Um $2500 in 1986 today. Uh that's $7,616. That's the opening bid. So he says, "Do I have 2500?" "2500.25 2500. Anybody? 2500. Everybody's just sitting there because they they've bought all these stupid posters. And so I put up my hand
[49:08] and he whispers to me, "Are you serious?" And I said, "Yeah, I have 2500." I had been saving to go to Europe again that summer, but I said, "Yeah, I have 2500." Nobody else bid on it, and I got a Picasso for $2500. That was the first work of art that I ever owned. And I I didn't sell it until 2003. I sold it and I bought a Jawan Miro and
[49:38] a Picasso ceramic, a bull with a bull fighter in it. So, love art. But that's Andy Warhol. And actually, let me move this too. You can see kind of a beat up old desk lamp on the top of my bookshelf. That is Andy Warhol's desk lamp from his home in uh Manhattan. [clears throat] Um I have two things of his. I have that desk lamp and I have a candalabra that I bought at Sabes the auction house in in New York. I love Warhol. Love Warhol.
[50:11] [gasps] Okay. Number 16. Eli Russell. Dear John, in your next Q&A episode, would you please give your insight on the current situation in Nicaragua and on the recent comments made by President Daniel Ortega? I'm loving the show. Thank you and have a blessed day. This is important, too. You know, I sort of came of age. I was in college in the 1980s when the Reagan administration was trying to overthrow Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. and and eventually they were
[50:43] successful in doing that. They did it through a democratic election, but thousands of people were killed by the USbacked Contrabels. And um you know, I never really felt too terribly strongly about it other than the fact that the United States should not be in the business of overthrowing foreign governments. It's not up to us. and Ortega came to power because of a USbacked dictator who had Anastasio Samosa who had just just pillaged the
[51:14] country. So when Ortega won election again like recently like the last I don't know seven years or so I was like okay good for good for Ortega that Ortega has turned out to be a dictator. riots began, I'm gonna say back in like 2018 or 2019, something like that. They started over two things. The price of bread and the Nicaraguan version of
[51:47] social security. There just wasn't enough money for social security. And so they were raising raising raising the retirement age. And people started to take to the streets. And Ortega responded by cracking down with an iron fist. And then the Catholic Church came out and said, "Whoa, wait a minute. This is exactly what Samosa used to do. You can't just come out here and just start, you know, shooting people and cracking skulls and throwing people in dungeons." And then he started arresting the
[52:17] priests. So, I'm genuinely worried about what's happening in uh in Nicaragua. One final thought about Nicaragua. Ortega is doing something that we've seen other dictators do, especially in the Middle East, and that is when there's an intellectual, a professor, a journalist, a teacher, something like that, and they write something critical of the government, Ortega is stripping them of their
[52:48] citizenship and just putting them on a plane, the first plane out. That's a significant human rights violation. So, I'm I'm genuinely worried about what's happening in uh in Nicaragua. Thanks for that question. Number [snorts] 17, Lucas Smith. Hello, John and team. Enthusiastic listener from Australia. Thank you. I'll tell you, our support in Australia is ridiculous. So, thank you very much. He says, "I know China isn't your expertise, but what do you think China's
[53:18] geopolitics strategy is likely to be for the next couple of years? And what was their motive behind cutting oil consumption in half during the Iran crisis and digging into their reserves? Was it a power play? Oh my god, this is so timely." I mentioned I had breakfast this morning with this congressman who I don't want to name and we talked about this very subject and he explained it to me with a little bit of information that's not so public and I'll pass it on to you. The Chinese were freaking
[53:50] brilliant. They cut the consumption and they released oil from their strategic oil reserves. Okay, they they did that to keep the price of oil at around $80 a barrel. Now, they're paying for oil on the spot market and they're paying for it by cashing in government bonds, US government bonds. The money that they are then saving, they're using to buy gold.
[54:21] So, the US is slowly drawing down its gold supply. and we're selling oil on the open market and we've released oil from our own strategic reserves to try to keep the price down. And the Chinese are doing it in a in a much much smarter way and then beefing up their own gold supplies at the same time. I worry very much about China. It's funny. I saw two comments about myself
[54:52] today. One, I saw that I was a China hater. I never realized I was a China hater. And then in the same thread, somebody said that I'm a paid agent of the Chinese intelligence service. So, go figure. Anyway, the Chinese have a much longer term view of geopolitics than the United States does. I mean, in part, it's because we're a democracy and we have presidential elections every four years. But the Chinese, there was a there was a headline in the Onion a
[55:24] couple of weeks ago that was funny because it's so true. The headline was China content to sit back and watch US destroy itself. That's exactly what's happening. We are spending almost $1.5 trillion on the defense budget. The Chinese spend a fraction of that. They are swimming in cash. They're buying gold. They're building roads and engendering good feelings all across Africa and Asia.
[55:55] And then we're just, you know, bombing, bombing, bombing, overthrowing, shooting, killing, and bombing. So the Chinese have it right. We have it wrong. Okay. Next is 18. Jennifer Martin. Hi. What is the deal with Ela Chow and her connections to the Chinese government and what is going on with Mitch McConnell? Let me answer your second question first. Um,
[56:29] I drove past Mitch McConnell's house today. Mitch M I used to work in the Dirkson Senate Office Building. Dirkson is attached to the Hart Senate Office Building and Mitch McConnell lives in a townhouse literally four doors down from uh the Heart Building. He lives like 150 feet from the heart building. I'll tell you why I know that. Because when I worked for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, every day as I was walking from the metro to the to the office, we would see Mitch McConnell get into a limousine and drive 150 ft to the
[57:03] office. And we would boo him every time. Boo, walk, you lazy bastard. And then everybody would laugh every day. Well, something's up because capital the capital police built two guard shacks outside his house. He lives in a townhouse. It's connected to all the other town houses. So, they ate up like six parking spaces
[57:34] building these two guard shacks and then they put these, you know, these arms that come down. Why? Mitch McConnell is going to live for what, another couple of weeks, maybe. Why now? They're blocking off the street and you need special permission from the Grand Puba to to drive down the street where Mitch McConnell lives. So, something's up up there on Capitol Hill. Okay. Now, to the to the first question. What is the deal with Elaine Chow
[58:04] and um and China? Ela Chow's family, of course, is Chinese and she comes from one of the wealthiest families in the entire country of China. Um this is a family that owns one of the biggest ship builders in all of China. She was criticized appropriately when she was what was she secretary of
[58:35] transportation I think labor I don't remember anymore but she was rightly criticized because she would make these trips to China on official US government business as a member of the president's cabinet but she would do work related to her family's ship building company. Now, if you are a billionaire Chinese businessman, it's because you're joined at the hip with the Chinese government, the Chinese Communist Party, and probably the
[59:05] Chinese intelligence service. I am not accusing Ela Chow of anything. What I'm saying is that the FBI, the CIA, and anybody else that might have been involved dropped the ball when doing her security clearance. Cuz I don't care if she's married to the majority leader of the US Senate, now former majority leader of the US Senate. If you are a recipient of riches
[59:35] coming from coming from a conglomerate that has the approval and support of the Chinese Communist Party, you shouldn't be in the cabinet of the president of the United States. I don't like her. I don't trust her. I don't like her husband. And I'm going to be glad to see both of them leaving Washington one way or the other. Number 19. Giana, have you seen the
[1:00:05] Odyssey movie in theaters? Do you know how much or do you know much about Greek mythology? And if so, what's your favorite story? I have not seen the Odyssey. And I'll tell you why. I have not seen The Odyssey because I am actively boycotting The Odyssey. Yes, Christopher Nolan is a gifted Hollywood director and he makes these big blockbusters and it's an epic and it's going to win the Academy Awards. I don't care. I'm not watching it.
[1:00:38] First of all, there wasn't one single Greek cast in this entire Greek epic. I'm offended. Number two, there were no Africans in ancient Greece and certainly none of the Greek gods were African. So, I'm sorry. This just seems so woke. I can't do it. I That's not why I'm boycotting. I'm boycotting because he did not hire one single Greek. The
[1:01:09] freaking movie was shot in Greece. It's about Greeks and there's not one single Greek. So boycotting. What's my favorite story? My favorite story is the story of Seisphus. I love the story of Seisphus. So Seisphus was uh a king in Greek mythology. He was known to be very cunning and very selfish. And so he entered into a
[1:01:39] dispute with Zeus. Zeus was the king of the gods, right? The highest of all of the gods. And it was Seephus who exposed the fact that Zeus had kidnapped a river nymph by the name of Ahina. She was the most beautiful of all the river nymphs. And he went he blew the whistle and he went public with the fact that Zeus had snatched this uh this river nymph. And
[1:02:09] so Zeus then told the god of death, Thanos, to touch Seisphus so that he would die. But Cisphus, remember, was so cunning and so smart that he somehow convinced Thanos to put himself in chains. And then was all locked up in these chains and he couldn't touch Seisphus and kill him. Cisphus then was banished to Hades
[1:02:41] by Zeus and he was able to escape from Hades, but he got caught. And so his punishment for repeatedly humiliating Zeus and escaping from Hades and humiliating Thanoos was that he had to roll a boulder up a mountain every day. And then just as he got to the top of the mountain, he would lose his footing and the boulder would roll all the way back to the bottom of the mountain. And he had to do this every day for eternity.
[1:03:14] To tell you the truth, sometimes I think a lot of us feel like Seephus. And I always thought that that the story of Seisphus had modern-day applications. It's one of it's where one of my favorite words comes from, Cifian. Like you have a Cifian task, right? You want to um protest the Iran war and convince
[1:03:44] Americans to be in the streets. Americans aren't in the streets. That's a Cifian task. You roll that boulder all the way up the hill every day and every day it rolls right back to the bottom of the Gen and you have to keep doing it every day for eternity. That is my favorite Greek myth. Shaga number 20 says, "Hi John. I wanted to ask what you make of Matthew Brown, who has been speaking about UFO disclosures and recently appeared on Jesse Michael's podcast. From your experience in the CIA, do you think
[1:04:15] there is any chance he could be being used to push a false or misleading story? And more generally, what would you look for to tell the difference between a genuine whistleblower and someone being used to spread disinformation? Thanks, Eddie. Thank you, Eddie. Very good and insightful question. So, I've seen these clips of Matthew uh Brown. I've seen his podcasts. I've seen the writings. And I'm of two minds. He appears to me to be a legitimate whistleblower.
[1:04:46] At least, maybe I should rephrase. He appears to genuinely believe what he's saying. But how do you tell the difference between a genuine whistleblower and somebody being used to spread disinformation? How about this? Why has he not been prosecuted? All of the information that he has purported to bring out has been classified. All of these Pentagon reports about UFOs
[1:05:17] are classified. Why haven't they prosecuted him? Why haven't they prosecuted him under the Espionage Act? Could it be because they made up the information? Could it be because the information is fake? Could it be because there is no information and he made it up? I have no idea. I will say again, the guy seems to me to be sincere, but I'm wondering why the collective response at the Justice Department and
[1:05:47] the Pentagon has been meh. Who cares? I care. So, I'm I'm a little worried about it. 21. Sweaty Z24. Hi John. Longtime listener. Love the interviews and enjoy your content. Thank you buddy. When you are at home doing your videos, I always wonder about the American flag up on my bookshelf. As I have one from my grandfather who served in the South Pacific in World War II. In fact, he and
[1:06:17] his four brothers, all five of them served in World War II. And the Youngsttown Vindicator published a nice article about it. I was a paper boy for the Vindicator for five years. Please tell me the story behind your flag as it catches my eye in every video. Thank you so much for that. There actually is a story about that flag. Let me move my camera. It's that flag right there. That's the flag that was on my father's coffin. My dad was a veteran from the Korean War.
[1:06:48] And let me give you background. My my dad was a was an all-around great guy. He was a wonderful father. He was a great husband. He and my mom were deeply in love with each other for all the years of their marriage. They were married for 42 years. They're their anniversary is tomorrow actually. God, it would be 60. Oh my god.
[1:07:20] 65 years tomorrow. So, um, my dad was drafted into the Korean War. He never ever spoke about it, even when asked directly. And I, you know, I was a kid, so I was just like, okay, well, he doesn't want to talk about it. And then when I was a senior in high school, the Army recruiter came to the school. This is going to sound so dumb.
[1:07:50] It's such a kids thing. The Army recruiter said, "Listen, if you come down to the recruitment office just to talk, you don't have to sign anything. I'll give you a free pack of tube socks." And I was like, "Hey, free tube socks." So, I mentioned off-handedly to my dad, "Hey, Dad, I'm going to go down to the army recruiter on Saturday just to hear what he has to say." He said, "What?" And I said, "Yeah, they're giving away free socks." And these were my dad's exact words. He
[1:08:20] looked at me and he said, "If you go down there on Saturday, you and I are going to have a serious problem, boy." And so I didn't go, but he never ever talked about the war. My dad suffered from Parkinson's disease for the last 10 years of his life. He was diagnosed at 59 and he died at 69. not specifically from Parkinson's, but the Parkinson's made his balance poor and he fell down the steps and hit his
[1:08:52] head. Eight hours later, I happened to be holding his hand when his brain died. It was the worst thing that ever happened to me in my life. But anyway, over the years before he passed away, he made us [laughter] I don't mean to laugh. Sorry, Dad. He made us promise that there would be no military commemoration whatsoever.
[1:09:22] Nothing. He made us individually all promise, my mom, my brother, my sister, and me no military commemoration. Well, my dad was a uh an elementary school principal, public school principal for 44 years. and all the principles were of that generation or an older generation. So they were all in the VFW together and my dad was immensely popular. More than 700
[1:09:53] people showed up for his funeral if you can imagine such a thing in little Newcastle, Pennsylvania. So one of the other teachers principles, retired principal, uh Mr. Navaro, Mr. Navaro just died at the age of 101 and was a bonafide World War II war hero Japanese P. And Mr. Navaro called my mom and he said, "Stella, we've got to do a 21 gun salute." And she's like, "Oh, he really didn't
[1:10:25] want any commemoration." and he's like, "But he served and he served proudly and we really we need to do a 21 gun salute." So, just as we're getting ready to go from the funeral to the church and then you go from the church to the cemetery, these like 80 year old men all come with their rifle, right? each one of them with their rifles with blanks in them.
[1:10:56] And inside the the funeral home, they do a 21 gun salute. And so one of them picked up one of the spent shell casings and folded it inside that flag. And while they were doing it, my brother leaned over and he said to me, "Dad would kill us." And I said, "I know. I can't believe we're doing this." And then to make matters worse, when they finally put his stone in the ground, it had a badge already attached
[1:11:26] to it that said Korean War veteran. I'm like, "Oh my god, almighty. Sorry, Dad." But anyway, they rolled up one of the shell casings in that flag. They folded the flag and they gave it to my mom. I bought her that little frame at Michael's. And then when my mom passed away, I took it and I put it up there. My dad hated every second that he was in the military, but I'm deeply proud of his military service. And so that's why
[1:11:56] I have it up there. Okay. Well, folks, thank you so much for joining us for a Q&A episode of the briefing room. We're going to keep doing more of these. And I do want to apologize for something, too. I said um in our in our uh most recent uh episode of briefing room that that we we read every comment and we were reading every comment, but now we're getting like literally
[1:12:27] thousands a day and we can't read them all. We're trying hard and we're trying to pull out the best questions, the most insightful questions or questions that are repeated and we're going to come back to you with another Q&A uh in the near future. So, I want to thank our producers, John Ball and Victoria von Perz. Please keep those comments coming uh and please continue to like, share, subscribe, review, tell your friends, tell your family about us. We are only able to do this because of you. So,
[1:12:58] thank you. And if you're not sick of me yet, you can find more content on John Kuryaku's Deadrop. That's on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. And you can also find me on Cameo, Facebook, Instagram X, LinkedIn, and pretty soon Tik Tok. I'm John Kuryaku. We'll see you next time.