# Prepublication review > **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: "Prepublication review," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/prepublication-review/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The CIA clearance process every former officer's writing must pass through, and John Kiriakou's account of what it did to his eighth book, five weeks instead of two, a missed publisher's deadline, six pages redacted as classified that he says the agency had itself declassified a decade earlier, and an appeal route requiring another ninety days.* - **Applies to:** Everything a former [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) officer writes for publication - **The delay:** Two weeks requested, five weeks taken - **The reason given:** A *"sister agency"*, said to be NSA, not the FBI, wanted to look at it - **Redactions:** Six pages - **Kiriakou's objection:** That the material had been on the agency's own website for ten years - **The appeal:** Print out the agency's own web pages, send them back, and wait another 90 days - **The publisher's answer:** Print the black pages and put a starburst on the cover **Prepublication review** is the clearance the [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) requires of everything a former officer writes, and which [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) says he is *"pretty good at"* complying with, *"you're always going to be CIA people in the eyes of the CIA."* His account of what happened to his eighth book is offered as the illustration of how the process actually works.[1][2] ## The sister agency Having submitted the manuscript, he was emailed that the agency needed extra time *"because a sister agency wanted to take a look at it. I knew that was nonsense."* His objection was contractual: *"I said I didn't sign a secrecy agreement with any sister agency. I did what I was supposed to do by submitting it to the CIA."*[3] What followed he flags as itself anomalous. *"Much to my surprise, they called me on the phone, which they never do, because they like everything to be in writing so they can use it against you later."* Told that the FBI did not get a chop on his book, the officer corrected him: *"it's not the FBI. It's NSA."* Kiriakou's reply, *"well, what's NSA care about what I write about surveillance and surveillance detection?"*, got *"Well, I don't know, he said. We just need two weeks."*[3][4] ## Five weeks and six pages *"Well, they took five weeks. And then when I got the book back, of course, I had missed my publisher's deadline. And they had redacted six pages."* His response was to name the source of the redacted material.[4][5] > *"You redacted six pages and you say that it's classified. I want you to know that I got the information off of your website. You declassified this information 10 years ago."* The answer was a procedure rather than a reversal: he could appeal, but he would have to print the information off the agency's own website and send it back to them, and the appeal would take a further ninety days. His reading of it is that the delay was the point, *"look, they're doing this on purpose. I don't know why. I must have angered them somehow."*[5][6] The publisher declined to wait. *"You know what we're going to do? We're going to publish it with the pages blacked out. And on the cover of the book, we're going to put a starburst. And we're going to say, the book the CIA doesn't want you to read."* Kiriakou's answer: *"OK, let's play their own game."*[6] ## Where he draws the line He does not treat the requirement as unlimited. *"There are some things that I think the CIA shouldn't have a vote on whether or not I get to publish. And so there are some things that I feel strongly about that I don't bother to send."* When the agency objected once, *"I had my attorney write them a nasty letter back and they dropped it."*[7] Interviews he does not submit at all, and the reason is practical rather than defiant: *"my argument is I don't know what you're going to ask me. I don't know in what direction the conversation is going to flow. And so there's nothing that I can submit for clearance."*[7][8] ## See also - [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) - [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) - [The Oath To The Constitution](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-oath-to-the-constitution) - [Espionage Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/espionage-act) ## Sources 1. It's scoundrel time in the good ol' USA (2022-05-20), at 33:01. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud8c90fc5bd&t=1981s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-05-20-scheer-intelligence-its-scoundrel-time-in-the-good-ol-usa/ 2. It's scoundrel time in the good ol' USA (2022-05-20), at 34:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud8c90fc5bd&t=2045s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-05-20-scheer-intelligence-its-scoundrel-time-in-the-good-ol-usa/ 3. It's scoundrel time in the good ol' USA (2022-05-20), at 34:37. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud8c90fc5bd&t=2077s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-05-20-scheer-intelligence-its-scoundrel-time-in-the-good-ol-usa/ 4. It's scoundrel time in the good ol' USA (2022-05-20), at 35:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud8c90fc5bd&t=2109s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-05-20-scheer-intelligence-its-scoundrel-time-in-the-good-ol-usa/ 5. It's scoundrel time in the good ol' USA (2022-05-20), at 35:41. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud8c90fc5bd&t=2141s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-05-20-scheer-intelligence-its-scoundrel-time-in-the-good-ol-usa/ 6. It's scoundrel time in the good ol' USA (2022-05-20), at 36:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud8c90fc5bd&t=2173s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-05-20-scheer-intelligence-its-scoundrel-time-in-the-good-ol-usa/ 7. It's scoundrel time in the good ol' USA (2022-05-20), at 36:44. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud8c90fc5bd&t=2204s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-05-20-scheer-intelligence-its-scoundrel-time-in-the-good-ol-usa/ 8. It's scoundrel time in the good ol' USA (2022-05-20), at 37:15. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud8c90fc5bd&t=2235s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-05-20-scheer-intelligence-its-scoundrel-time-in-the-good-ol-usa/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/prepublication-review/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt