# "He's been ours since the '70s"

> **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: ""He's been ours since the '70s"," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/hes-been-ours-since-the-seventies/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*An episode John Kiriakou uses to convey the scale of CIA penetration of foreign political classes: spotting a former prime minister at a diplomatic cocktail party, rushing back to the embassy to file for a name trace and vulnerability assessment before anyone else could approach him, and receiving a same-day instruction to cease and desist because the man had already been an agency asset for decades.*

- **Setting:** A diplomatic cocktail party
- **The target:** A former prime minister, founder of a smaller party
- **Kiriakou''s action:** Filed a cable requesting a name trace and vulnerabilities
- **Headquarters'' reply:** 'Cease and desist. He''s been ours since the ''70s.'
- **Turnaround:** Next day

Asked to convey the scale on which the United States government has foreign officials working for it, [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) answered with an episode rather than a number.

*"I was at a cocktail party once, a diplomatic cocktail party, and I met a guy who I immediately recognised as a former prime minister. And I thought, 'oh my God, he's a former prime minister, now he's not just a member, he's a founder of a less popular party. He's probably not going to be prime minister again, but maybe he will be. Who knows?' So I rush back to the embassy, I fill out a template for this cable, and I say, 'hey, I met the former prime minister. Give me a [name trace](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/post-9-11-name-traces) on him. Looking for any vulnerabilities. I'm going to invite him to dinner, I'm going to try to get him.' And then they send me a cable back the next day and they said: 'cease and desist. He's been ours since the '70s.'"*[1][2]

The procedure the story turns on is routine, an [operational cable](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/operational-cable) requesting a trace and a vulnerability assessment is the first step of any approach, and the point of the anecdote is that the answer came back not as a caution but as a collision. The man had been recruited before Kiriakou joined the agency.[2]

## See also

- [The post-9/11 name traces](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/post-9-11-name-traces)
- [The operational cable](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/operational-cable)
- [Asset acquisition cycle](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/asset-acquisition-cycle)
- [The botched pitch](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-botched-pitch)
- [Agent payment mechanics](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/agent-payment-mechanics)

## Sources

1. One America News Network (2026-02-27), at 36:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulc3YGqjKvk&t=2163s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-one-america-news-network-one-america-news-network/
2. One America News Network (2026-02-27), at 36:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulc3YGqjKvk&t=2194s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-one-america-news-network-one-america-news-network/

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