# National Whistleblower Day

> **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: "National Whistleblower Day," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/national-whistleblower-day/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou has called National Whistleblower Day an event no whistleblower or supporter should miss — held every year in the Kennedy Caucus Room, which he describes as not merely the biggest room on Capitol Hill but the most historic single room anywhere on it, having hosted every major Senate hearing from the sinking of the Titanic to Watergate and Iran-Contra.*

- **Organiser:** The National Whistleblower Center
- **Venue:** The Kennedy Caucus Room, Capitol Hill
- **Hearings held there, per Kiriakou:** The sinking of the Titanic, Watergate, Iran-Contra
- **Told to:** Whistleblower of the Week, 5 May 2026

Told that he was expected at National Whistleblower Day in July, Kiriakou said he loved the event, and then explained why at some length.[1]

## What it is

It is an event the National Whistleblower Center puts on every year, and it is always a major event on Capitol Hill.[1]

## The room

The venue is the part Kiriakou lingers on. It is always held in the Kennedy Caucus Room, which he says is not just the biggest room on Capitol Hill but the most historic single room anywhere on Capitol Hill.[1]

His evidence is the list of hearings it has held: every major Senate hearing, he says, from the sinking of the Titanic to Watergate and Iran-Contra.[1][2]

## Why it matters to him

The rest of his description is about attendance. The organisers pack the place every single year. It is a fantastic day and a fantastic lunch, and the guests are A-list movers and shakers from Capitol Hill — senators, congressmen, committee chairmen — who come to celebrate whistleblowers.[2]

His conclusion is a recommendation: it is an event that no whistleblower, or whistleblower's supporter, should miss.[2]

The enthusiasm is worth reading against the rest of Kiriakou's account of Washington. He is consistently scathing about the congressional oversight committees, which he describes as cheerleaders that rubber-stamp whatever the intelligence community brings them, and he has said that the blame for the country's failures on civil liberties belongs on Capitol Hill as much as in the White House.[3][4]

National Whistleblower Day is the exception he makes: the one day of the year on which the same building, and in his account the same class of people, treats a whistleblower as something to be celebrated rather than managed.

## See also

- [Thomas Drake](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/thomas-drake)
- [Jesselyn Radack](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jesselyn-radack)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)
- [The Berlin conference list](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-berlin-conference-list)

## Sources

1. John Kiriakou - CIA Whistleblower Exposed Torture Program and Paid the Price (2026-05-05), at 40:19. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud3bfdf93c4&t=2419s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-05-whistleblower-of-the-week-john-kiriakou-cia-whistleblower-exposed-tortu/
2. John Kiriakou - CIA Whistleblower Exposed Torture Program and Paid the Price (2026-05-05), at 40:52. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud3bfdf93c4&t=2452s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-05-whistleblower-of-the-week-john-kiriakou-cia-whistleblower-exposed-tortu/
3. John Kiriakou - CIA Whistleblower Exposed Torture Program and Paid the Price (2026-05-05), at 29:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud3bfdf93c4&t=1771s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-05-whistleblower-of-the-week-john-kiriakou-cia-whistleblower-exposed-tortu/
4. John Kiriakou - CIA Whistleblower Exposed Torture Program and Paid the Price (2026-05-05), at 30:07. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud3bfdf93c4&t=1807s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-05-whistleblower-of-the-week-john-kiriakou-cia-whistleblower-exposed-tortu/

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