# Psychiatric evacuation

> **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: "Psychiatric evacuation," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/psychiatric-evacuation/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The CIA's practice of pulling an officer out of a posting and flying him home when he breaks down — known inside the agency as being psychovac'd — and the desk-bound evaluation period that follows before he is allowed to travel again.*

- **Agency term:** Psychovac'd
- **Trigger:** An officer breaking down in place
- **Consequence:** Returned home; barred from travel
- **Reinstatement:** Around six months at a desk under evaluation by agency psychiatrists

**Psychiatric evacuation** — *psychovac* in agency usage — is the removal of a CIA officer from a posting because he has broken down under the conditions of the job. Kiriakou uses it as evidence against the idea that the CIA is a machine staffed by exceptional people: the workforce is *"all humans"*, and a proportion of them have problems.[1]

## What it looks like in practice

Preparing for an operation in Islamabad, Kiriakou asked where one of the officers who regularly helped on counterterrorism raids had gone. The answer was that he had been psychovac'd — *"he went nuts. We had to put him on a plane, send him home"* — and the immediate operational consequence was that the team was a man down. His comment is that people do not realise the pressure that comes with the job.[2]

The status that follows is not a discharge. In another account, asked to take a weekend meeting in [Beirut](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/beirut), Kiriakou suggested sending the officer who actually covered Lebanon and was told he had been psychovac'd and was not allowed to travel: he would sit at a desk for another six months and be evaluated by the agency's psychiatrists, and then, if he was no longer nuts, might be allowed back.[3][4]

## See also

- [CIA psychological evaluations](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-psychological-evaluations)
- [Beirut](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/beirut)
- [Pakistan Station (2002)](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/pakistan-station-2002)
- [Moral Injury](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/moral-injury)

## Sources

1. Ex-CIA, John Kiriakou Opens Up About the CIA's Deep State Ties and Political Influence (2026-03-02), at 17:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGfCnX_ZpQ8&t=1050s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-02-carlos-watson-conversations-cia-deep-state/
2. S1E11 Have Human Spies Become Obsolete? (2026-01-19), at 13:34. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/695ad02c18c941d6d66b194c/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-19-dead-drop-s1e11-have-human-spies-become-obsolete/
3. Ex-CIA, John Kiriakou Opens Up About the CIA's Deep State Ties and Political Influence (2026-03-02), at 18:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGfCnX_ZpQ8&t=1080s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-02-carlos-watson-conversations-cia-deep-state/
4. Ex-CIA, John Kiriakou Opens Up About the CIA's Deep State Ties and Political Influence (2026-03-02), at 18:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGfCnX_ZpQ8&t=1110s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-02-carlos-watson-conversations-cia-deep-state/

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