Covert action programs occupy the top of the American classification system, and John Kiriakou states the rule in the form officers experience it: “at the CIA, there is literally nothing that is more highly classified than a covert action program. You’re not even allowed to say the words ‘covert action program’ in public when you’re a CIA officer.”[1]
The announcement
Which is why he treats the public authorisation of one as a category error: “so then you have the president of the United States getting up on national television and saying he’s just authorized a covert action program to overthrow the Venezuelan government.”[1]
His reading is that it was aimed at an audience of one, and may not have been true: “I don’t know if that’s true. He may have just said that to frighten Maduro — or he may have actually done it.”[2] He also notes the self-defeating quality of the announcement: “it makes it very difficult to conduct a coup when you talk openly about a covert action program.”[3]
What one would actually consist of
Kiriakou sizes it in people rather than dollars: “it would entail a handful of people — no more than, I don’t know, a few hundred, a thousand at the maximum.” Their tasks would be to take the presidential palace or force Maduro out; to pacify the military, “which is impossible at this early stage because the military supports Maduro — it always has”; and to take the radio and television stations and the major intersections of the capital.[2][4]
His own doubt about the format follows: “we’re not even sure that that’s all possible as part of a covert action program. You would probably need troops on the ground from the Defense Department. But secondly — what do you do 24 hours later?”[4][5]
The signature chain
Asked in February 2026 whether the economic and street chaos in Iran could have happened without presidential approval, Kiriakou answered no, and named the category: “that would be what is called a covert action program. And so that has to have very specific presidential approval.”[6]
The route to the signature: “it has to have the president’s signature, after having gone through the CIA General Counsel, the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department, the National Security Council General Counsel, and then the National Security Advisor — before it even gets to the President. So it has to be a very well thought out plan that the President finally approves with his signature before it can be implemented.”[7]
Why a partner moves faster
The contrast he draws is with Israel: “the Israelis oftentimes just can’t control themselves. They can’t help themselves. They jump the gun frequently, before the US is ready to act alongside them. And they’ll just go in and start doing something.” In the United States, “we have a far heavier bureaucracy — it takes longer for these plans to work their way through the process. If the Israelis want to do something, they just do it.”[8][9]