# Defense HUMINT Service

> **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: "Defense HUMINT Service," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/defense-humint-service/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The Pentagon's human collection outfit, which John Kiriakou names as one of the three agencies that already do everything the CIA does — alongside the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research for analysis and the NSA for interception — and which is therefore the core of his argument that Langley is redundant rather than merely badly run.*

- **Parent:** The Department of Defense
- **Function:** Recruiting spies to steal secrets
- **Kiriakou's assessment:** *"Just as well as the CIA does"*
- **Its role in his argument:** One of the three existing bodies that make [the CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) duplicative
- **The other two:** The State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, for analysis; the [NSA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/national-security-agency), for interception
- **Note on the name:** Kiriakou flags the initials himself — *"not the Department of Homeland Security"*

**Defense HUMINT Service** is the Pentagon's human intelligence collection organisation, and [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) raises it as the load-bearing part of his argument that [the CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) is redundant rather than simply unreformed. He introduces it with a warning about the initials — *"a human collection outfit at the Pentagon called DHS, not the Department of Homeland Security but Defense HUMINT Services"* — and rates it flatly against Langley: *"they recruit spies to steal secrets just as well as the CIA does."*[1][2]

The argument it belongs to is one of duplication. On analysis, *"the best analysis in the intelligence community does not come from the CIA, it comes from the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research."* On technical collection, *"in terms of tech issues and interception, that's what NSA does."* Which leaves the question he ends on: *"so why do you have this redundant organization at Langley, that is actually sort of in charge of the intelligence community, when they're the ones getting it wrong all the time?"*[1][2]

## See also

- [Abolish the CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abolish-the-cia)
- [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia)
- [National Security Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/national-security-agency)
- [The SIGINT–HUMINT balance](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sigint-versus-humint-balance)

## Sources

1. Uncovered US Torture Program (2019-09-06), at 12:58. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbFXhHbMOHQ&t=778s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-09-06-graham-elwood-uncovered-us-torture-program/
2. Uncovered US Torture Program (2019-09-06), at 13:29. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbFXhHbMOHQ&t=809s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-09-06-graham-elwood-uncovered-us-torture-program/

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