# "Our job is to break the law" > **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: ""Our job is to break the law"," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/our-job-is-to-break-the-law/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The line John Kiriakou says CIA instructors repeated in training, and the qualification he attached to it at the time: the job is to break the law over there, not here. He describes participating willingly in break-ins abroad while insisting a warrant is required at home.* - **Where said:** CIA training - **The line:** "Our job is to break the law" - **Kiriakou's answer at the time:** "Yeah, but not here" - **What he did abroad:** "Breaking into people's houses or offices and planting bugs and cameras" - **His justification:** "We're the good guys… This is to protect the United States" - **The domestic limit:** The CIA is forbidden by law from operating inside the United States **"Our job is to break the law"** is a phrase [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) attributes to CIA instructors, and which he raises to explain why a debate about warrants misunderstands the organisation being discussed. ## The training line The subject arose over [Vault 7](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/vault-7) capabilities — remote control of vehicles, the reverse-engineering of televisions into microphones — and the observation that such things are not supposed to be done without a warrant. Kiriakou's answer began with the culture rather than the statute. *"You know, at the CIA… God, in training they they used to tell us all the time, 'Our job is to break the law.'"*[1][2] ## The qualification he made His recorded reaction at the time was not dissent from the principle but from its scope. *"And I remember saying, 'Yeah, but not here.' The job is to break the law over there."*[2] Kiriakou is explicit that he acted on that distinction rather than merely stating it. *"You know, I was perfectly happy and and on multiple occasions actively participated in, you know, breaking into people's houses or offices and planting bugs and cameras. We're the good guys. That's what we have to do. This is to protect the United States."*[2] ## The domestic limit The other half of the distinction is stated as law, not preference. *"But not here. You need a warrant. And besides, the CIA is forbidden by law from doing anything operationally inside the United States. That's what the FBI is for."*[2] His own frustration is with how rarely that line is understood: *"I just never understood this. Like, why isn't it that clear to everybody?"*[2] ## The contrast with the FBI Asked whether the FBI behaved similarly, Kiriakou drew a sharp distinction from long experience. *"You know, it was my experience when I was working with the FBI, and I worked with the FBI for years and years, that they they really were sticklers for the law, where the CIA wasn't."*[2] His illustration was an exchange in which he offered FBI colleagues a technique for dismantling a small terrorist cell by turning its members against one another. The response was *"Oh my god, that's so illegal. We couldn't possibly do that"* — and Kiriakou's own reply is the clearest statement of the gap between the two institutions: *"Oh, it never even occurred to me that that might be illegal."*[2] ## See also - [Vault 7](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/vault-7) - [The self-destructing terrorist cell](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/self-destructing-terrorist-cell) - ["Most other countries are more moral than the CIA"](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/more-moral-than-the-cia) - [CIA National Resources Division](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-national-resources-division) ## Sources 1. The TRUTH About "MK Ultra" and Why Conspiracy Theories Grow (2026-04-02), at 12:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsQUErTJYOE&t=755s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-02-megyn-kelly-the-truth-about-mk-ultra-and-why-conspiracy-t/ 2. The TRUTH About "MK Ultra" and Why Conspiracy Theories Grow (2026-04-02), at 13:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsQUErTJYOE&t=786s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-02-megyn-kelly-the-truth-about-mk-ultra-and-why-conspiracy-t/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/our-job-is-to-break-the-law/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt