# Post-9/11 supplemental appropriations

> **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: "Post-9/11 supplemental appropriations," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/post-9-11-supplemental-appropriations/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The emergency money Congress pushed into the CIA after the September 11 attacks — a supplemental appropriation of roughly 160 per cent the day after, another at the end of the year, and a counterterrorism directorate that could not spend what it had been given.*

- **First supplemental:** About 160 per cent, the day after the attacks
- **Second supplemental:** At the end of the same year
- **Duration:** Continued for years after the attacks
- **Effect:** More money than the [Counterterrorism Center](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/counterterrorism-center) could spend

**Post-9/11 supplemental appropriations** were the emergency budget increases Congress voted the CIA after the September 11 attacks, on top of the fixed budget the appropriations and oversight committees had already set.

The first arrived the day after the attacks and amounted to something in the order of a 160 per cent supplemental; another followed at the end of the same year, and multibillion-dollar supplementals continued for years.[1] In Kiriakou's summary, Congress could not appropriate the money fast enough and the agency could not spend it all.[1]

The operational effect was that cost stopped functioning as a check. Approaching [Cofer Black](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cofer-black) shortly after the attacks to pitch an operation, Kiriakou was cut off before he could describe it: *"Whatever it is, just do it. I have so much money, I can't possibly spend it all."*[2][3] The same condition underwrote the cash-first approach in Afghanistan described at [renting Afghan warlords](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/renting-afghan-warlords).

## See also

- [Counterterrorism Center](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/counterterrorism-center)
- [Cofer Black](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cofer-black)
- [Concealment of the CIA budget](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-budget-concealment)
- [Renting Afghan warlords](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/renting-afghan-warlords)
- [CIA cash room](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-cash-room)

## Sources

1. Top Secrets: The CIA Torture Whistleblower John Kiriakou (2025-04-16), at 37:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev1ozulvly8&t=2260s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-16-the-dr-phil-podcast-top-secrets-the-cia-torture-whistleblower-john-ki/
2. Top Secrets: The CIA Torture Whistleblower John Kiriakou (2025-04-16), at 36:39. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev1ozulvly8&t=2199s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-16-the-dr-phil-podcast-top-secrets-the-cia-torture-whistleblower-john-ki/
3. Top Secrets: The CIA Torture Whistleblower John Kiriakou (2025-04-16), at 37:10. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev1ozulvly8&t=2230s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-16-the-dr-phil-podcast-top-secrets-the-cia-torture-whistleblower-john-ki/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/post-9-11-supplemental-appropriations/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt