The prostitute dilemma
John Kiriakou poses a hypothetical he uses at colleges: a proven, life-saving terrorist penetration demands you procure him a prostitute before he will give you more intelligence. Most say they would. But then the asset asks for a child prostitute — and, Kiriakou notes, no training class ever teaches where the line is. There is no rulebook at the other end of the cable; the officer must bring his own moral principles and hold them.[1][2][3][4]
Kiriakou says he originated the hypothetical in a speech at American University, using it to illustrate that the CIA gives no training whatsoever in ethics, leaving officers to rely on their own moral values; when he puts the prostitute question to a crowd, he says, about 90% of hands go up in favor of providing one.[5]
Torturing prisoners at a JSOC black site
Kiriakou has written about a JSOC black site where some of the contractors working there encouraged his squad to torture prisoners; he told the privates under him, unambiguously, that they were not to participate.[6]