# The Nordeen house

> **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: "The Nordeen house," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/nordeen-house/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The embassy housing on Deliyani Street in Athens that John Kiriakou refused on arrival in 1998 — the house outside which the American defence attaché had been blown to pieces by 17 November, his head landing on the neighbouring roof.*

- **Where:** Deliyani Street, Athens
- **Offered to:** [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou), 1998
- **History:** The defence attaché was assassinated in front of it by [17 November](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/revolutionary-organization-17-november)
- **Kiriakou's answer:** *"I'm not living in the Nordeen murder house"*

**The Nordeen house** on Deliyani Street in Athens was the first property the American embassy offered [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) when he arrived in 1998 with his wife and two small children — and the offer is his standard illustration of how little the housing office understood the threat environment its officers worked in.

Kiriakou recognised the street name at once and asked whether it was *the Nordeen house*. The housing officer, pleased, asked whether he knew it. Kiriakou did: the American defence attaché had been blown to a thousand pieces in front of it by [17 November](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/revolutionary-organization-17-november), and his head had been found on the roof of the house next door. *"So no, I'm not living in the Nordeen murder house. Can you imagine?"*[1]

The housing officer's answer was that nothing else was available, and then, in Kiriakou's account, he simply stopped trying. Weeks passed with no contact, so one Saturday Kiriakou walked into an estate agent's office himself, said he needed four bedrooms, was shown a house with five, and told the embassy to negotiate the contract — well within the budget he already knew.[2][3][1]

His point is not about bureaucracy but about training. Choosing where to live in Athens had to be approached with counterterrorism considerations in mind, *"something that would just never have occurred to"* the housing officer.[3]

The episode also set the tone for a posting Kiriakou spent expecting to be killed: he left home at a different time every day, took a different route every day, and never established a pattern.[4][5]

## See also

- [Revolutionary Organization 17 November](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/revolutionary-organization-17-november)
- [Richard Welch](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/richard-welch)
- [Kiriakou Athens House](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-athens-house)
- [The Welch .45](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/welch-45)

## Sources

1. S1E9 The Hothead (2026-01-05), at 02:04. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6951d0bf30165a956d618669/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-05-dead-drop-s1e9-the-hothead/
2. S1E9 The Hothead (2026-01-05), at 01:01. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6951d0bf30165a956d618669/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-05-dead-drop-s1e9-the-hothead/
3. S1E9 The Hothead (2026-01-05), at 01:33. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6951d0bf30165a956d618669/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-05-dead-drop-s1e9-the-hothead/
4. S1E9 The Hothead (2026-01-05), at 08:59. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6951d0bf30165a956d618669/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-05-dead-drop-s1e9-the-hothead/
5. S1E9 The Hothead (2026-01-05), at 09:31. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6951d0bf30165a956d618669/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-05-dead-drop-s1e9-the-hothead/

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