# The assassination approval process

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "The assassination approval process," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/assassination-approval-process/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*Why John Kiriakou thinks arranging the death of a foreign leader is far harder for the CIA than the public assumes. It is not the 1960s: there is congressional oversight, and before any proposal reaches the president's signature it must clear layers of lawyers at the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, the National Security Council and the agency's own General Counsel. Pressuring a leader into flight, he notes, is both easier and more legal.*

- **Kiriakou's verdict:** 'A lot harder than most people would expect'
- **What changed:** Congressional oversight; the agency is no longer 'a completely renegade organization'
- **The lawyers:** DOJ Office of Legal Counsel; NSC Office of Legal Affairs; [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) General Counsel
- **The easier route:** Pressure the target into leaving

**The assassination approval process** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s answer to the question of how easily [the CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) could arrange the death of a foreign head of state. His answer is that it is *"a lot harder than most people would expect."*[1]

## What changed

*"It's not the '60s or the early '70s anymore, where the CIA is a completely renegade organization and it just goes around overthrowing governments and assassinating world leaders. Now there actually is at least some congressional oversight."*[1]

## The lawyers

What makes it slow is not the operation but the sign-off. *"There's a bureaucratic process by which they would have to go through, and it's quite difficult — because it's not just the CIA coming up with an idea and then going to the president to approve the idea. There are layers and layers of attorneys, in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, and the National Security Council's Office of Legal Affairs, and the CIA's General Counsel's Office. And so you have this army of attorneys that has to approve it before it even gets to the president for his signature."*[2]

## The cheaper alternative

Kiriakou's practical conclusion, applied to [Nicolás Maduro](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/maduro-capture): *"it would be easier — it would be more legal — to put so much pressure on Maduro that he opts to just get up and run, than it would be to try to kill him."*[2]

He contrasts the official machinery with the freelance version, which he treats as farce: *"in just the last year or so there have been a dozen, a dozen and a half mercenaries that have sort of washed up on shore and have said 'hey, we're here to overthrow Maduro' — only to be then arrested and traded back to the United States for Venezuelan prisoners. It's kind of silly."*[3]

## See also

- [Maduro Capture](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/maduro-capture)
- [The four requirements of a coup](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-four-requirements-of-a-coup)
- [Church Committee](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/church-committee)
- [Congressional intelligence oversight](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/congressional-intelligence-oversight)

## Sources

1. Piers Morgan Uncensored (2025-12-22), at 31:41. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=178ec0ZUJPQ&t=1901s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-22-piers-morgan-uncensored-piers-morgan-uncensored/
2. Piers Morgan Uncensored (2025-12-22), at 32:12. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=178ec0ZUJPQ&t=1932s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-22-piers-morgan-uncensored-piers-morgan-uncensored/
3. Piers Morgan Uncensored (2025-12-22), at 32:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=178ec0ZUJPQ&t=1962s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-22-piers-morgan-uncensored-piers-morgan-uncensored/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/assassination-approval-process/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt