# Sharon Scranage

> **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: "Sharon Scranage," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sharon-scranage/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*CIA secretary stationed in Ghana in the 1980s; the only other American besides John Kiriakou to have been charged under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982; revealed the names of CIA officers and sources in Ghana to a Ghanaian intelligence-service lover during pillow talk, leading to the execution of the named sources by Ghanaian authorities; sentenced to nine months in prison.*

- **Role:** CIA secretary, Ghana station, 1980s
- **Charged under:** Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982
- **Disclosure mechanism:** Pillow talk with Ghanaian intelligence officer (her lover)
- **Sources executed:** Multiple, by Ghanaian authorities
- **Sentence:** 9 months in prison

**Sharon Scranage** was a [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) secretary stationed at the U.S. embassy in Ghana in the 1980s. She is the only other American besides [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) to have been criminally charged under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. Her case is invoked by Kiriakou in his account of his own prosecution as the precedent against which the federal government's choice of forty-five years as the appropriate sentence for him should be measured.[1]

## Disclosure and consequence

Scranage was having an affair with a member of the Ghanaian intelligence service. *"In the course of pillow talk, she revealed the names of all of the CIA officers in the station and the names of the sources they were running. And so the Ghanaians executed these guys."*[1][2]

## Sentence

Scranage received **nine months** in prison.[2]

## The comparison Kiriakou drew

In the period during which Kiriakou and his wife stayed up overnight considering the Justice Department's plea offers, the Scranage precedent was the principal data point shaping their thinking. The disproportion, nine months for a disclosure that produced executions versus forty-five years for whistleblowing on the CIA torture program, was, in Kiriakou's framing, definitive evidence that his prosecution was political: *"They offer me 45 years for blowing the whistle on the torture program."*[2][3]

## See also

- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)
- [Plato Cacheris](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/plato-cacheris)

## Sources

1. Joe Rogan Experience #2392 — John Kiriakou (2025-10-10), at 54:47. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZqADzuu73g&t=3287s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-10-joe-rogan-experience-2392/
2. Joe Rogan Experience #2392 — John Kiriakou (2025-10-10), at 55:18. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZqADzuu73g&t=3318s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-10-joe-rogan-experience-2392/
3. Joe Rogan Experience #2392 — John Kiriakou (2025-10-10), at 55:49. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZqADzuu73g&t=3349s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-10-joe-rogan-experience-2392/

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