Executive Order 12333 — referred to by John Kiriakou as “1233” — is the U.S. presidential directive that, in its post-September 11 amended form, grants the Central Intelligence Agency the legal authority to kill any individual anywhere in the world whom the agency deems to pose a “clear and present danger” to the United States. It is the foundation of the agency’s targeted-killing operations and, through the 2025 Ninth Circuit ruling, of the contractor extensions of that authority.[1]
Self-designation of threats
The most consequential feature of the amended order, in Kiriakou’s reading, is that the CIA itself determines who qualifies as a clear and present danger — there is no external review of those designations, and the underlying intelligence is generally not shared with anyone outside the agency:
The CIA is going to decide who’s the clear and present danger. And they’re not going to tell you because you’re not cleared. … I’m not cleared. We’re just going to have to take their word for it. But they have the legal authority to kill people through 1233.[1]
Extension to contractors
The 2025 Ninth Circuit ruling — issued in a case in which Abu Zubaydah was the plaintiff — held that 12333 authority extends to private contractors when they act under written CIA contract. The practical effect is that contractors operating CIA paramilitary programs, including Blackwater’s Global Response Staff and assassination program, are legally protected as agents of the agency.[2][3]
Operational application
In Kiriakou’s account, the order is the legal substrate beneath the Tuesday morning kill list — the regular Brennan-era meeting at which CIA personnel produced and assigned that week’s targets for killing.[4]