# Mike Hayden

> **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: "Mike Hayden," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mike-hayden/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*Director of the National Security Agency on September 11, 2001; subsequently Director of the Central Intelligence Agency under President George W. Bush. Per John Kiriakou's relay of NSA whistleblower Tom Drake, on the morning of 9/11 Hayden told NSA personnel the agency had been 'waiting for a 9/11 so that they could implement the bigger program and grab everybody's electronics' — despite the agency's founding charter forbidding it from intercepting the communications of U.S. persons.*

- **Position on 9/11:** Director, National Security Agency
- **Subsequent position:** Director, Central Intelligence Agency (Bush administration)
- **9/11 morning statement (per Kiriakou, relayed from Tom Drake):** NSA had been 'waiting for a 9/11 so that they could implement the bigger program and grab everybody's electronics'
- **Doctrinal violation:** NSA's founding charter forbids it from intercepting the communications of Americans or U.S. persons

**General Michael V. Hayden** was the Director of the National Security Agency on September 11, 2001, and subsequently became Director of the Central Intelligence Agency under President George W. Bush.[1]

## *"Waiting for a 9/11"*

Per [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) — relaying NSA whistleblower [Tom Drake](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/thomas-drake) — Hayden on the morning of September 11, 2001 told NSA personnel that the agency had been *"waiting for a 9/11 so that they could implement the bigger program and grab everybody's electronics."*[1]

Kiriakou's framing: *"Not only is it illegal for NSA to intercept the communications of American citizens or U.S. persons, which is anybody in the country legally on a green card — it is a part of NSA's founding charter forbidding them from intercepting the communications of Americans or U.S. persons. And they just say, 'Tough. 9/11. National security. What are you going to do? You got to start from scratch.'"*[2]

## Reputation at NSA

Kiriakou describes Hayden as an egomaniac who was disliked at the NSA, where employees actively sought transfers to the CIA: *"It was such an amateur hour under Michael Hayden over there at NSA. Nobody liked working for Hayden."*[3]

## Personal falling-out and later decline

Kiriakou recounts a personal falling-out with Hayden after refusing to address him as "General" backstage at a Bill Maher taping — Kiriakou, a civilian, called him "Mike," prompting Hayden to walk out and skip the show.[4] He says Hayden suffered a major stroke about a year before that interview and appeared frail, using two canes and needing his mouth wiped, at a National Press Club event.[4]

## On the "deep state" and CIA directors

Kiriakou has used Hayden's career, and the broader pattern of career intelligence officials, to illustrate what he considers a real "deep state": officials in senior positions for 25 to 42 years who outlast presidents and slow-roll directives they disagree with.[5] He explains Chuck Schumer's January 2017 remark that intelligence agencies have "nine ways from Sunday to screw you" as meaning agencies slow-roll or ignore presidential directives they oppose — something he says happened to both Jimmy Carter and Trump.[6] Kiriakou says he is philosophically opposed to any CIA director having been a general or admiral, arguing the last CIA director with true independence from the president was Stansfield Turner, who served from 1977 to 1981.[7]

## See also

- [Tom Drake](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/thomas-drake)
- [Section 702](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/section-702)
- [John Brennan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-brennan)

## Sources

1. The Cost of Telling the Truth | John Kiriakou | Ep. 446 (2026-05-04), at 50:01. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JeTlw4Zy3o&t=3001s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-04-cleared-hot-446-cost-of-truth/
2. The Cost of Telling the Truth | John Kiriakou | Ep. 446 (2026-05-04), at 50:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JeTlw4Zy3o&t=3034s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-04-cleared-hot-446-cost-of-truth/
3. Ep. 5264 – John Kiriakou on What Could Have Prevented 9/ (2020-05-25), at 41:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhjFW9ey15U&t=2482s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-05-25-scott-horton/
4. CIA Spy Breaks Silence On Elon Musk's Twitter Files — John (2023-04-12), at 36:43. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmPpOps1yeI&t=2203s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-04-12-danny-jones/
5. John Kiriakou on Israeli Spycraft, False Flags, and the CIA (2026-07-05), at 1:04:58. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqyYHuJsQgM&t=3898s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-05-the-bad-news-program/
6. John Kiriakou on Israeli Spycraft, False Flags, and the CIA (2026-07-05), at 1:06:01. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqyYHuJsQgM&t=3961s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-05-the-bad-news-program/
7. Whistleblower Diaries #1 — John Kiriakou with Greg Barns S (2026-05-27), at 52:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AACmzGfitg&t=3133s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-27-the-information-rights-pro/

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