# Deuce Martinez

> **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: "Deuce Martinez," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/deuce-martinez/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The former CIA analyst whose business card was the basis of two of the three Espionage Act charges brought against John Kiriakou. Kiriakou scanned and emailed the card — which showed Martinez had gone to work for Mitchell and Jessen, the firm of the torture programme's architects — to a New York Times reporter and later to an ABC News reporter. The judge threw the espionage counts out.*

- **Role:** [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) analyst; later a targeting officer
- **Undercover status:** *"Had never, ever been undercover, ever"*
- **Left the CIA:** About a year after Kiriakou, whose resignation was effective 2005
- **Onward employer:** [Mitchell and Jessen LLC](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mitchell-and-jessen)
- **Significance:** Two of Kiriakou's three Espionage Act charges; all three dismissed

**Deuce Martinez** is a former [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) analyst who, on [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s account, *"had never, ever been undercover, ever."* He is nonetheless the subject of two of the three Espionage Act charges brought against Kiriakou.[1]

## The business card

Martinez resigned from the CIA about a year after Kiriakou did. They were friends, and Martinez was *"excited to tell me about his onward position"*, so they had lunch and he handed over his new business card. It read: *"Deuce Martinez, Mitchell and Jessen LLC."*[2]

Kiriakou's reaction was immediate — *"are you crazy going to work for these monsters?"* — [Mitchell and Jessen](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mitchell-and-jessen) being the two psychologists who designed the torture programme. Martinez's answer was *"no, no, they're good guys, they're misunderstood."* Kiriakou pressed: *"you've got to be insane to resign from the agency and go to work for these guys of all people. There wasn't one other job that you could have taken."* After Kiriakou went on ABC News, Martinez stopped speaking to him — *"which was fine."* But he still had the card.[2][3]

## The two charges

[Scott Shane](#) of the New York Times telephoned to ask how he could reach Martinez for a story. Kiriakou said they had not spoken in a long time, but that he had the business card — so he scanned it and emailed it. *"I was charged with espionage for that email."* When Shane's article ran, a reporter from ABC News called with the same question, and Kiriakou sent the card again. *"I got a second espionage charge."*[3][4]

The judge threw out all three espionage counts.[5]

Kiriakou's standing objection to the charge is that Martinez's status was never secret in the first place: *"They charged me with espionage, saying that I outed Deuce Martinez. Deuce Martinez is on LinkedIn — Central Intelligence Agency Targeting Officer."*[6]

## A second account of the same charge

Kiriakou has described the conduct behind his prosecution more than once, and the tellings do not match in their particulars — a variance worth recording rather than smoothing.

In a 2021 account he traces it not to the business card but to a book project. In 2008 an ABC News reporter told him he was writing a book on the [Abu Omar rendition](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abu-omar-rendition) — Abu Omar being a radical Egyptian cleric in Milan — and asked for an introduction to one of a dozen people on a list. Kiriakou replied that he knew nothing about the rendition and none of the people: *"kidnapping wasn't my thing at the CIA. I wasn't involved. I can't help."* A second list of a dozen names produced the same answer.[7][8]

The reporter then changed tack and asked about a man Kiriakou had himself mentioned in his first book, giving only a first name. Kiriakou supplied the rest — *"oh, you're talking about John Smith. I don't know whatever happened to him, he's probably retired and living in Virginia somewhere"* — and, in his words, *"I confirmed the last name of this John Smith, and that's what got me in trouble."*[9]

## See also

- [Mitchell and Jessen](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mitchell-and-jessen)
- [Espionage Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/espionage-act)

## Sources

1. John Kiriakou: A Whistleblower on Torture (2015-12-11), at 28:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss30914fb8&t=1711s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-12-11-scheer-intelligence-john-kiriakou-a-whistleblower-on-torture/
2. John Kiriakou: A Whistleblower on Torture (2015-12-11), at 29:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss30914fb8&t=1743s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-12-11-scheer-intelligence-john-kiriakou-a-whistleblower-on-torture/
3. John Kiriakou: A Whistleblower on Torture (2015-12-11), at 29:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss30914fb8&t=1776s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-12-11-scheer-intelligence-john-kiriakou-a-whistleblower-on-torture/
4. John Kiriakou: A Whistleblower on Torture (2015-12-11), at 30:07. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss30914fb8&t=1807s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-12-11-scheer-intelligence-john-kiriakou-a-whistleblower-on-torture/
5. John Kiriakou: A Whistleblower on Torture (2015-12-11), at 30:41. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss30914fb8&t=1841s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-12-11-scheer-intelligence-john-kiriakou-a-whistleblower-on-torture/
6. John Kiriakou CIA Story Meme Compilation 8 (2026-03-01), at 02:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkXrcTg4xgA&t=125s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-01-viral-plug-john-kiriakou-cia-story-meme-compilation-8/
7. A former CIA mideast expert's view of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis (2021-05-21), at 03:47. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsse22aaf5d&t=227s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-05-21-scheer-intelligence-a-former-cia-mideast-expert-s-view-of-the-isr/
8. A former CIA mideast expert's view of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis (2021-05-21), at 04:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsse22aaf5d&t=257s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-05-21-scheer-intelligence-a-former-cia-mideast-expert-s-view-of-the-isr/
9. A former CIA mideast expert's view of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis (2021-05-21), at 04:50. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsse22aaf5d&t=290s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-05-21-scheer-intelligence-a-former-cia-mideast-expert-s-view-of-the-isr/

---

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