Kiriakou says the Vault 7 revelations, which he attributes to Joshua Schulte, exposed that the CIA can take control of a car while it is being driven by hacking its computer, sending it off a bridge or into a tree so that the death looks like a suicide or an accident. [1] He says the same leaks revealed that the agency can turn on a smart TV’s speaker in reverse so that it functions as a microphone even while the television appears to be off, allowing it to listen to conversations in the room. [1] Kiriakou calls these disclosures matters of life or death, distinguishing them from the diplomatic embarrassment of the Chelsea Manning cables. [2]
He has separately described the same capability in another appearance; see CIA Remote Vehicle Control.
Discussing the capability again in the context of a fatal car crash involving Qatari diplomats, Kiriakou said CIA training included a specific survival instruction for the scenario: if you sense you are losing control of the car, immediately shift into neutral and pull the emergency brake — “it’s the only thing that’s going to allow you to survive.”[3]