# Operation Gladio

> **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: "Operation Gladio," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/operation-gladio/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*A CIA, MI6, Vatican and NATO operation to leave 'stay-behind' sleeper networks across Western Europe after World War II in case of a Soviet invasion; John Kiriakou, who learned of it only after leaving the CIA, notes it was made public by Italian PM Andreotti in 1990.*

- **Sponsors:** CIA, MI6, the Vatican, NATO
- **Made public:** 1990, by Italian PM Andreotti

**Operation Gladio** was, in [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s account, an operation hatched by the CIA, MI6, the Vatican and NATO at the end of World War II to leave *"stay-behind"* sleeper agents across Western Europe in case of a Soviet invasion.[1][2] He says everything he knows about it he learned after leaving the CIA, and that it became public only when Italian Prime Minister Andreotti disclosed it to parliament in 1990. It intersected, he notes, with Italy's P2 Masonic lodge and figures like Michele Sindona and Licio Gelli.[3] Some analysts, he adds, treat Gladio as a template for later programs — the [Iran-Contra](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-contra) death squads and the arming of anti-Soviet fighters in Afghanistan.[4] In the same conversation, Kiriakou also recounted the discovery of [Saudi princes' phone numbers](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/saudi-princes-and-9-11) in Abu Zubaydah's diary.

In another telling, Kiriakou described Gladio as a U.S. government decision to leave people — in some cases CIA officers — behind in countries liberated during World War II, mostly in Eastern Europe, in case an uprising against the Soviet Union was needed; he named Italy, where it fed into the [1949 Italian election](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/italian-election-covert-action) operation, as the first place it played a role.[5]

## The Olof Palme assassination

Asked about a claim that the 1986 assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was the work of a Gladio-linked cell, Kiriakou said he had no knowledge of any such connection. His own understanding of the case: he had always heard Palme was killed by a Kurdish man, who was convicted and then had his conviction overturned on appeal; the murder was never conclusively solved.[6]

## See also

- [Founding of the CIA (1947)](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-founding-1947)
- [Iran-Contra](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-contra)

## Sources

1. John Kiriakou Unleashed: The Real CIA History, Sexpionage, Black Ops & More (2026-05-08), at 14:23. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ZPb1UuC7k&t=863s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-08-jay-dyer-real-cia-history/
2. John Kiriakou Unleashed: The Real CIA History, Sexpionage, Black Ops & More (2026-05-08), at 14:56. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ZPb1UuC7k&t=896s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-08-jay-dyer-real-cia-history/
3. John Kiriakou Unleashed: The Real CIA History, Sexpionage, Black Ops & More (2026-05-08), at 13:21. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ZPb1UuC7k&t=801s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-08-jay-dyer-real-cia-history/
4. John Kiriakou Unleashed: The Real CIA History, Sexpionage, Black Ops & More (2026-05-08), at 18:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ZPb1UuC7k&t=1113s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-08-jay-dyer-real-cia-history/
5. CIA and the Vatican, Christian Zionism, and Living the Faith (2026-06-16), at 21:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99-EzDMH7ck&t=1269s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-16-the-third-way-orthodox/
6. John Kiriakou: THEY Really Did THIS — Jay Dyer Show (2026-04-29), at 1:47:18. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqx0uSr1yYk&t=6438s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-29-jay-dyer-they-really-did-this/

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