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Julian Assange
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Evidence of previous heroism
From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's on-record words
Based on 1 recorded interview · Last updated
A phrase John Kiriakou attributes to Judge Leonie Brinkema at his 2013 sentencing. When his service in Pakistan and his role in the capture of Abu Zubaydah were raised in mitigation, the judge ruled, in what Kiriakou gives as her exact words, that any evidence of previous heroism is irrelevant.
Evidence of previous heroism is the phrase John Kiriakou attributes to Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia when his prior government service was offered in mitigation at his sentencing.
The ruling
Asked on the In Limine podcast about the discrepancy between what he had done for the country and what was being done to him, Kiriakou described the point being put to the court and the answer coming back: “any evidence of previous heroism is irrelevant.” He is explicit that these were her exact words.[1]
The service in question was not desk work. Kiriakou was the CIA’s chief of counterterrorism operations in Pakistan after September 11th, and when the host asked whether he had led raids or merely directed them, he answered that they were “busting down doors with battering rams and everything.”[1] On the strength of the Abu Zubaydah capture he had been promoted to executive assistant to the CIA’s Deputy Director for Operations.[2]
How he reads it
Kiriakou’s assessment of the judge in the exchange is blunt and unhedged, “she didn’t give a shit at all”, and he treats the ruling as of a piece with the rest of her conduct of the case.[1] The remark belongs alongside the two other Brinkema statements he returns to: her definition of espionage as providing national defence information to any person not entitled to receive it, and her comment from the bench that he either did it or he did not, and she thought he did.
The practical effect is narrow but total. A defendant’s record cannot cut against the charge, and in Kiriakou’s account it was not permitted to cut against the sentence either.[1]
Sourced from John Kiriakou's on-record public statements. See his profile for the full body of his interviews, podcast appearances, and short-form video.
