# Sofia, Bulgaria Dead Drop > **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: "Sofia, Bulgaria Dead Drop," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sofia-bulgaria-dead-drop/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *John Kiriakou's account of a CIA trip to Sofia, Bulgaria, in which he tracked down and debriefed a retired Bulgarian general — a Cold War-era trainee at Fort Polk, Louisiana — about his proximity to the 1975 assassination of CIA station chief Richard Welch in Athens.* - **Officer:** [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) - **Subject debriefed:** Retired Bulgarian general, former defense attaché in Athens - **Connection:** One block from the December 23, 1975 assassination of Richard Welch - **Lodging:** Hotel Rila ($16/night) **Sofia, Bulgaria** was the site of a [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) debriefing trip described by [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou), in which he located and questioned a retired Bulgarian general about his proximity to the 1975 assassination of CIA station chief Richard Welch in Athens. ## The Fort Polk file Kiriakou says he found an old FBI course-evaluation form signed by a Bulgarian general who, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, had attended a 1991 training course for Eastern European officers at Fort Polk, Louisiana — covering subjects like shooting and driving — and that no one had ever debriefed him further, despite the CIA having his name on file.[1] CIA analysis subsequently flagged that the same general had been Bulgaria's defense attaché in Athens in 1975, and had been walking his dog one block away on the night of December 23, 1975, when Richard Welch was assassinated — yet he had never been asked what he saw.[2] ## The debriefing Kiriakou flew to Bulgaria and found the retired general working as a security officer at a bank; he debriefed him over coffee about the Welch assassination night, twenty-five years after the fact.[3] ## Lodging In Sofia, Kiriakou stayed at the Hotel Rila — which doubled as a brothel — for $16 a night, rather than the five-star Sheraton (the former Communist Party headquarters) at $300 a night. Under a new CIA rule letting officers keep unspent per diem, he pocketed roughly $350 per trip, which he spent at the art market by the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky.[4] ## The chatty seatmate Kiriakou also tells a lighter story from a flight into Sofia. On a flight from Milan to Sofia, Bulgaria, he found himself seated next to an enormous man who would not stop talking for the entire flight, pressing him repeatedly about what he did for a living. Kiriakou — who says he never talks to strangers on planes — tried the standard cover answer of "import-export" business, but the man kept pushing for details on what exactly he imported and exported. Finally, just to get him to stop, Kiriakou told him: *"I smuggle women and cigarettes from Eastern Europe. You happy now?"* It worked — the man didn't say another word for the rest of the flight.[5] ## Espionage in Washington Discussing the broader scale of foreign intelligence activity, Kiriakou has separately said he has seen estimates of 10,000 spies operating in Washington, D.C.[6] He recalls that while researching terrorism for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he traveled to Yemen to meet the FBI's legal attaché, who — before any negotiation over information or additional funded FBI positions — recited Kiriakou's full biographical file back to him from memory, down to his birthdate, hometown, and high school.[7] ## See also - [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) - [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) ## Sources 1. Mini Episode 3: A Spy's Guide To... Sofia (2025-12-01), at 02:08. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/692c9892c4da9138ec2155e2/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-01-dead-drop-mini-episode-3-a-spy-s-guide-to-sofia/ 2. Mini Episode 3: A Spy's Guide To... Sofia (2025-12-01), at 03:10. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/692c9892c4da9138ec2155e2/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-01-dead-drop-mini-episode-3-a-spy-s-guide-to-sofia/ 3. Mini Episode 3: A Spy's Guide To... Sofia (2025-12-01), at 04:43. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/692c9892c4da9138ec2155e2/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-01-dead-drop-mini-episode-3-a-spy-s-guide-to-sofia/ 4. Mini Episode 3: A Spy's Guide To... Sofia (2025-12-01), at 13:37. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/692c9892c4da9138ec2155e2/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-01-dead-drop-mini-episode-3-a-spy-s-guide-to-sofia/ 5. Why Abolishing The CIA Won't Change Anything (2025-01-25), at 7:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_GA5Wj3-94&t=442s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-01-25-kim-iversen-why-abolishing-the-cia-won-t-change-anything/ 6. John Kiriakou on Israeli Spycraft, False Flags, and the CIA (2026-07-05), at 29:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqyYHuJsQgM&t=1743s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-05-the-bad-news-program/ 7. John Kiriakou on Israeli Spycraft, False Flags, and the CIA (2026-07-05), at 29:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqyYHuJsQgM&t=1774s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-05-the-bad-news-program/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sofia-bulgaria-dead-drop/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt