# Larry Devlin

> **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: "Larry Devlin," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/larry-devlin/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*CIA officer and former chief of station in the Congo, whose memoir Chief of Station, Congo was published on his instruction the day after he died — never submitted to the agency's Publications Review Board. John Kiriakou cites it as an act of nerve he admits he does not have.*

- **Service:** CIA; chief of station, Congo
- **Book:** Chief of Station, Congo
- **Publication:** Released by his daughter the day after his death, on his own instruction
- **Review:** Never submitted to the [Publications Review Board](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/publications-review-board)
- **Per Kiriakou:** "Even the title is a security violation"

**Larry Devlin** was a [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) officer and chief of station in the Congo. [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou), who describes him as *"our former colleague"* and says he died several years before this 2026 recording, raises him as a standard he has not met: *"I wish I had the guts that our former colleague Larry Devlin had."*[1]

Devlin wrote a memoir of his entire career in agency operations, titled *Chief of Station, Congo* — a title Kiriakou notes is *"even the title is a security violation."*[1][2]

The manoeuvre was in the timing. *"What he did is he told his daughter: publish this the day after I die. And that's what she did. And they never went to the [Publications Review Board](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/publications-review-board)."* Kiriakou's verdict — *"well played"* — comes with the observation that the secrecy agreements have presumably been tightened since, *"at least if the lawyers are worth anything."*[2]

## See also

- [Publications Review Board](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/publications-review-board)
- [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. S1E26 Did John Le Carre Invent The Modern Spy? (2026-05-04), at 1:11:21. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/69ed338717df632b859b58f0/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-04-dead-drop-s1e26-did-john-le-carre-invent-the-modern-spy/
2. S1E26 Did John Le Carre Invent The Modern Spy? (2026-05-04), at 1:11:55. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/69ed338717df632b859b58f0/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-04-dead-drop-s1e26-did-john-le-carre-invent-the-modern-spy/

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