# Kiriakou's legal counteroffensive

> **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: "Kiriakou's legal counteroffensive," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-legal-counteroffensive/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's announcement in February 2021 that after thirteen years of being reactive and responsive to his detractors he intended to start going after people, having connected with Harvard and Georgetown law professors, a plan he described without giving detail, saying only that things were turning around.*

- **Announced:** February 1, 2021
- **Preceding period:** 'The course of the last, you know, 13 years'
- **His posture until then:** 'Reactive and responsive'
- **Counsel described:** Harvard law professors and Georgetown law professors
- **Detail given:** 'I wish I could go into more detail'
- **Targets:** Detractors who, in some cases, 'went too far'

Opening an interview in February 2021, John Kiriakou was asked about legal victories and gave an answer that was deliberately incomplete.

## 'I'm going to start going after people'

It is a slog, he said. But over the course of the last thirteen years or so he had had his detractors, and in some cases these detractors went too far. He had connected with some really amazing attorneys over the previous few years, people like Harvard law professors and Georgetown law professors, and now, after being reactive and responsive for the last decade, he was going to start going after people. [1]

He then closed the subject himself: I wish I could go into more detail. Things are turning around, and I'm very excited about it. [1] His interviewer thanked him for the generosity of saying anything at all. [2]

## Where it sits

The thirteen years Kiriakou refers to run back to the December 2007 ABC News interview and cover the whole sequence of investigations, charges, imprisonment and supervision recorded in [the John Kiriakou task force](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou-task-force), [federal plea coercion](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/federal-plea-coercion) and [supervised release travel restrictions](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/supervised-release-travel-restrictions).

What he says about his own detractors elsewhere makes clear which categories he has in mind. He has described losing friends and family members before any charge was filed, treated in [the culling of friendships](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-culling-of-friendships); the recurring approaches he reads as bait, treated in [consulting job entrapment offers](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/consulting-job-entrapment-offers); and the threats that follow television appearances. [3]

Kiriakou did not name a defendant, a court or a cause of action in the interview, and the article records only what he said.

## See also

- [The John Kiriakou Task Force](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou-task-force)
- [Federal plea coercion](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/federal-plea-coercion)
- [Consulting job entrapment offers](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/consulting-job-entrapment-offers)
- [The culling of friendships](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-culling-of-friendships)
- [Threats against John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-death-threats)
- [Supervised release travel restrictions](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/supervised-release-travel-restrictions)

## Sources

1. The Bitter Truth with Abe (2021-02-01), at 01:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ETk7Q-8Ez4&t=94s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-02-01-the-bitter-truth-with-abe-the-bitter-truth-with-abe/
2. The Bitter Truth with Abe (2021-02-01), at 02:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ETk7Q-8Ez4&t=125s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-02-01-the-bitter-truth-with-abe-the-bitter-truth-with-abe/
3. The Bitter Truth with Abe (2021-02-01), at 18:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ETk7Q-8Ez4&t=1122s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-02-01-the-bitter-truth-with-abe-the-bitter-truth-with-abe/

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