# Sarah Adams

> **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: "Sarah Adams," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sarah-adams/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*A former CIA open-source analyst and frequent television commentator on terrorist threats, whom John Kiriakou dismisses in unusually direct terms: that she never held access to classified information, that she analysed press rather than intelligence, and that she has built a living out of predicting imminent disaster.*

- **Kiriakou's assessment:** "I think Sarah Adams is nuts, to tell you the truth"
- **Her access, per Kiriakou:** "Never had access to classified information"
- **What she did instead:** "She was an open-source analyst analyzing press"
- **What he says she sells:** "Predicting imminent disaster"
- **Why he says it works:** "Oh my god, she's from CIA"
- **Where he differs from her:** He holds there are no terrorist sleeper cells in the United States

**Sarah Adams** is a former [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) analyst and television commentator on terrorism whose public forecasts run against [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s, and whom a viewer asked him about directly on 28 February 2026: what does a former CIA officer like Adams see that he does not?

Kiriakou's answer disputed the premise of the question rather than the substance of her claims. *"I think Sarah Adams is nuts, to tell you the truth."*[1]

## The access argument

His objection is to the authority the comparison assumes. *"Sarah Adams never had access to classified information. She was She was an open-source analyst analyzing press."*[1]

He repeats the point at the end of the answer for emphasis: *"She never had access to classified documents."*[1]

## The business model

The second half of the answer is about incentives. *"She's made quite a handsome living for herself by predicting imminent disaster. That's why people flock to her. They're like, 'Oh my god, she's from CIA, and she's saying that the terrorist cells are going to destroy us.' That's how she makes a living."*[1]

## The underlying disagreement

The dispute is not only about credentials. Minutes earlier in the same broadcast, asked whether terrorist sleeper cells would be activated in the United States, Kiriakou had said flatly that when he was inside there were none here — [they exist in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iranian-sleeper-cells), and he was careful to add that his information is old.[2]

That is the claim on which the two commentators diverge, and Kiriakou's account of Adams's career is offered as the reason to prefer his version of it.

## See also

- [Iranian sleeper cells](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iranian-sleeper-cells)
- [Andrew Bustamante](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/andrew-bustamante)
- [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia)
- [2026 Iran war](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/2026-iran-war)

## Sources

1. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-02-28), at 52:50. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryefwYfcDVY&t=3170s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-28-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
2. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-02-28), at 42:32. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryefwYfcDVY&t=2552s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-28-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/

---

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