# Qat in Yemen > **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: "Qat in Yemen," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/qat-in-yemen/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The afternoon shrub-chewing habit of Yemen, and the special dispensation the CIA had to issue so that its officers could take part in it. John Kiriakou explains that no source could be developed in a qat-chewing country by an officer who would not chew.* - **Spelling:** Qat, with a qaf, not khat - **Form:** Leaves of a shrub, chewed while still green - **Effect:** "Like drinking two pots of coffee"; curbs hunger like coca leaves - **Social timing:** Every man in the country chews at 3 p.m. - **CIA response:** Special dispensation for officers in qat-chewing countries - **Countries named:** Yemen, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea **Qat in Yemen** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s worked example in answer to a question he says nobody had ever asked him before: whether an officer under cover may take drugs when a source expects him to. His answer began not with narcotics but with a shrub. ## The substance Kiriakou is insistent on the spelling. *"In Yemen, the national drug of choice is called qat, Q A T, qat. Sometimes you see it K H A T, like khat, it's not, it's with a Q, qat, back here, qaf."*[1] He is equally insistent that it is barely a drug at all. *"So, it's not really a drug, even though it's banned in the United States and it's on the list of uh drugs. It's a it's a shrub and you pick the leaves off the shrub. You have to chew them while they're green. Once they start to turn brown, they're no good anymore."*[2] The effect he compares to caffeine and to coca. *"But, it's like drinking two pots of coffee. It makes your your heart race like this. Um it also curbs hunger like like coca leaves uh do."*[2] His image of the long-term cost is physical and specific: *"you walk around Yemen and you'll see old men and one side of their face is hanging down because of a lifetime of a bulging cheekful of qat."*[2][3] ## The operational problem The reason any of this becomes an agency matter is that qat-chewing is not private. *"Well, if you want to develop a source there, you got to get close to the guy and literally every man in the country chews qat in the afternoon at 3:00. It's like the Italians having an espresso to, you know, finish out the day."*[3] An officer who declined would be marking himself out at exactly the moment he was trying to become unremarkable. ## The dispensation The institutional answer was a formal exemption. *"And so, the CIA had to give special dispensation to every officer working in Yemen or in other qat-chewing countries like Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, you you've got to do it to fit in."*[3] Kiriakou treats the dispensation as the beginning of a wider rule rather than an isolated indulgence: the same logic, extended to harder substances and more dangerous places, produces the answer he gives about [narcotics under cover](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/narcotics-under-cover).[4] ## See also - [Narcotics Under Cover](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/narcotics-under-cover) - [CIA Drug Facilitation](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-drug-facilitation) - [Cover position](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cover-position) - [The Operational Test](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-operational-test) ## Sources 1. Iran Escalation, Captured Spies: What Really Happens? And More I Going Deeper w/JK - DEEP FOCUS (2026-03-03), at 22:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4_p0sXfdMU&t=1371s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-03-the-deep-focus-iran-escalation-captured-spies-what-really-happens/ 2. Iran Escalation, Captured Spies: What Really Happens? And More I Going Deeper w/JK - DEEP FOCUS (2026-03-03), at 23:23. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4_p0sXfdMU&t=1403s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-03-the-deep-focus-iran-escalation-captured-spies-what-really-happens/ 3. Iran Escalation, Captured Spies: What Really Happens? And More I Going Deeper w/JK - DEEP FOCUS (2026-03-03), at 23:55. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4_p0sXfdMU&t=1435s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-03-the-deep-focus-iran-escalation-captured-spies-what-really-happens/ 4. Iran Escalation, Captured Spies: What Really Happens? And More I Going Deeper w/JK - DEEP FOCUS (2026-03-03), at 24:25. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4_p0sXfdMU&t=1465s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-03-the-deep-focus-iran-escalation-captured-spies-what-really-happens/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/qat-in-yemen/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt