# Securedrop

> **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: "Securedrop," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/securedrop/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The encrypted submission tool pioneered by WikiLeaks to let sources hand over documents without exposing themselves.*

SecureDrop is a tool pioneered by WikiLeaks for protected document submission. It is an example of the organization's work in source protection, encryption, and privacy. [1] Elsewhere in the same panel discussion, Kiriakou discusses [Meredith Whittaker](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/meredith-whittaker)'s work developing a new business model for the encrypted-messaging app Signal.[2]

## Confirmed, and the limit of his knowledge

Asked in 2020 to confirm how the system works — a whistleblower deposits material, and the platform delivers it to a newsroom without any link between the person and the material — Kiriakou said that was right, and agreed that it appears on the websites of a number of American outlets as a route for submissions.[3][4] He also accepted the account that [Julian Assange](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/julian-assange) was among those who built it, along with Aaron Swartz.[4]

He declined the follow-up. Asked to weigh SecureDrop against GlobaLeaks and the Dutch platform Publeaks built on it, he said he had never heard of Publeaks, and referred the comparison to [Bill Binney](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bill-binney) and [Thomas Drake](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/thomas-drake) — *"most definitely Bill Binney and Drake"* would give a detailed answer.[5][6]

## Sources

1. War & Military · Exposing Crimes is Not a Crime  · John Kiriakou, Jesselyn Radack... · (2026-03-20), at 22:42:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8HH4U7_tKo&t=81720s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-20-disruption-network-lab-war-military-exposing-crimes-is-not-a-crime-jo/
2. War & Military · Exposing Crimes is Not a Crime  · John Kiriakou, Jesselyn Radack... · (2026-03-20), at 01:21:44. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8HH4U7_tKo&t=4904s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-20-disruption-network-lab-war-military-exposing-crimes-is-not-a-crime-jo/
3. Dutch-language framing — confirm John speaks / not a dub (2020-02-25), at 22:39. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqWcgBb6GDM&t=1359s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-02-25-cafe-weltschmerz-dutch-dutch-language-framing-confirm-john-speaks-no/
4. Dutch-language framing — confirm John speaks / not a dub (2020-02-25), at 23:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqWcgBb6GDM&t=1389s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-02-25-cafe-weltschmerz-dutch-dutch-language-framing-confirm-john-speaks-no/
5. Dutch-language framing — confirm John speaks / not a dub (2020-02-25), at 23:41. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqWcgBb6GDM&t=1421s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-02-25-cafe-weltschmerz-dutch-dutch-language-framing-confirm-john-speaks-no/
6. Dutch-language framing — confirm John speaks / not a dub (2020-02-25), at 24:14. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqWcgBb6GDM&t=1454s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-02-25-cafe-weltschmerz-dutch-dutch-language-framing-confirm-john-speaks-no/

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