# Mort Halperin

> **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: "Mort Halperin," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mort-halperin/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*Former Assistant Secretary of State, Assistant Secretary of Defense, and senior director of the National Security Council; author of the law John Kiriakou was convicted of violating (the Intelligence Identities Protection Act); wrote to President Obama stating that this is not why he wrote the law and that Kiriakou should be pardoned.*

- **Government positions:** Assistant Secretary of State; Assistant Secretary of Defense; senior director, National Security Council
- **Authored:** The law John Kiriakou was convicted of violating (Intelligence Identities Protection Act)
- **Letter to Obama:** Said this is not why he wrote the law and that Kiriakou should be pardoned

**Morton H. Halperin** is a former Assistant Secretary of State, Assistant Secretary of Defense, and senior director of the National Security Council. Per [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou), Halperin authored the statute under which Kiriakou was convicted — the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.[1]

After Kiriakou's conviction, Halperin wrote to President Obama stating that *"this is not why he wrote the law and that I should be"* pardoned. The pardon was not granted under the Obama administration.[1]

Kiriakou separately identifies Halperin as having famously appeared on Richard Nixon's enemies list and as having headed the ACLU in the early 1980s, when he co-wrote the Intelligence Identities Protection Act specifically to protect civil liberties. When Kiriakou was arrested and charged, Halperin called his attorneys and volunteered, unpaid, to testify on his behalf, saying the prosecution was not why the law had been written — that it was, in Kiriakou's words, *"a political case."*[2]

## See also

- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. Most Hated CIA Spy on Hunting Osama & INSANE Covert Disguises (Episode 249) (2024-11-07), at 1:54:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_FDZozJ9zE&t=6840s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-11-07-julian-dorey-249/
2. John Kiriakou Speaks at Quaker House (2015-11-12), at 31:10. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2GbWGoIW6w&t=1870s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-11-12-quakerhouse/

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