# Leadership profiling

> **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: "Leadership profiling," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/leadership-profiling/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The CIA practice of producing classified psychological profiles of foreign leaders for the president, vice president, national security advisor and the secretaries of state and defense before any meeting. It was John Kiriakou's first job at the agency, where he served as Saddam Hussein's classified psychological biographer working alongside psychiatrists, psychologists and anthropologists.*

- **Customers:** The president, vice president, national security advisor, and the secretaries of state and defense
- **Trigger:** Any meeting with a world leader
- **Product:** A classified psychological profile of that leader
- **Kiriakou's first CIA job:** Classified psychological biographer of [Saddam Hussein](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/saddam-hussein)
- **Team composition:** Psychiatrists, psychologists and anthropologists
- **Afterlife:** Kiriakou still writes profiles for himself; "The Profile" is a segment on [The Briefing Room](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/johns-briefing-room)

**Leadership profiling** is the [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) practice of writing classified psychological assessments of foreign leaders for the officials who are about to meet them. [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) introduces it in July 2026 while launching a recurring segment of [The Briefing Room](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/johns-briefing-room) built on the same method.

*"When I was in the CIA, it used to be my job. It was my very first job in the CIA to to profile foreign leaders for the president, the vice president, the national security advisor, and the secretaries of state and defense. Anytime they were seeing a world leader, we had to write a classified psychological profile of that world leader."*[1]

His own portfolio was the most consequential one available at the time: *"My job at the agency when I first got hired was uh to be essentially [Saddam Hussein](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/saddam-hussein)'s classified biographer for the intelligence community. His His classified psychological biographer."* The work was not solitary, *"I worked with a team of psychiatrists, psychologists, and anthropologists to make sure that that we had cutting-edge analysis."*[2][3]

He has kept the habit: *"I still kind of enjoyed doing it just for myself."*[2] The first public profile in the series was of [Reza Pahlavi](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/reza-pahlavi).[3]

## The segment, reintroduced

Kiriakou reintroduced the practice in August 2026 when relaunching the profile as a recurring segment, describing it in the same terms: profiling foreign leaders *"for the president, the vice president, the national security adviser, and the secretaries of state and defense"*, with a classified psychological profile required *"anytime they were seeing a world leader."* He again described his own first assignment as being *"essentially [Saddam Hussein](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/saddam-hussein)'s classified biographer for the intelligence community"*, working with a team of psychiatrists, psychologists and anthropologists.[4][5]

## See also

- [Saddam Hussein](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/saddam-hussein)
- [John Kiriakou's Briefing Room](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/johns-briefing-room)
- [Reza Pahlavi](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/reza-pahlavi)
- [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia)

## Sources

1. Is It Over For Netanyahu? Poll Shows Most Americans Support His ARREST | Ep. 6 (2026-07-30), at 29:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-utK73sjrc4&t=1776s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-30-john-kiriakou-is-it-over-for-netanyahu-poll-shows-most-amer/
2. Is It Over For Netanyahu? Poll Shows Most Americans Support His ARREST | Ep. 6 (2026-07-30), at 30:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-utK73sjrc4&t=1806s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-30-john-kiriakou-is-it-over-for-netanyahu-poll-shows-most-amer/
3. Is It Over For Netanyahu? Poll Shows Most Americans Support His ARREST | Ep. 6 (2026-07-30), at 30:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-utK73sjrc4&t=1838s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-30-john-kiriakou-is-it-over-for-netanyahu-poll-shows-most-amer/
4. John Kiriakou on Netanyahu's Private Meeting with JD Vance (2026-08-06), at 49:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF51y2a5Od0&t=2973s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-06-the-kiriakou-archive-john-kiriakou-on-netanyahu-s-private-meeting/
5. John Kiriakou on Netanyahu's Private Meeting with JD Vance (2026-08-06), at 50:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF51y2a5Od0&t=3005s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-06-the-kiriakou-archive-john-kiriakou-on-netanyahu-s-private-meeting/

---

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