# Steven Lalas

> **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: "Steven Lalas," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/steven-lalas/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*American with top-secret clearance recruited as a spy for Greece's National Intelligence Service (EYP) in a provocative mid-1990s operation run by the country's conservative government. Per John Kiriakou, who did not know Lawless personally, the case was so sensitive that his handler reported directly to the EYP director out of fear the CIA had planted a mole inside the service. Lawless was caught, served about seven years, and was given Greek citizenship on release.*

- **Nationality:** American
- **Clearance:** Top secret
- **Recruited by:** Greek National Intelligence Service (EYP)
- **Recruitment era:** Mid-1990s, under Greece's conservative government
- **Sentence served:** About 7 years
- **After release:** Granted Greek citizenship; moved to Greece

**Steven Lalas** was an American with a top-secret security clearance who was recruited to spy for the Greek National Intelligence Service (EYP) in a provocative operation run by Greece's conservative government in the mid-1990s. [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) has said he did not know Lawless personally, but gave a Greek newspaper interview about the case.[1]

The recruitment was considered so sensitive within EYP that Lawless's handler reported directly to the service's director rather than through the normal chain of command, a precaution taken because EYP feared the [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) had recruited a mole inside the service and would expose the operation as a double-agent sting.[1][2]

Lawless was eventually caught and served roughly seven years in prison. On his release he was granted Greek citizenship and settled in Greece. Kiriakou gave his interview about the case after Lawless began publicly complaining in the Greek press of poverty, saying he had no money and had to rely on the kindness of strangers; Kiriakou expressed no sympathy, remarking, *"maybe you shouldn't have been a spy against your country."*[2]

## The 2026 retelling

Revisiting the case in 2026, Kiriakou dated the recruitment to the 1990s and described Lalas as *"a Greek American"* who *"gave them top secret NSA information on Turkey."* His judgement on the act is unsentimental despite the sympathy the case attracts in Greece: *"still, that is espionage."*[3]

He describes the aftermath as a kind of homecoming. On release Lalas was given Greek citizenship, moved to Greece, and *"he's something of a hero in Greece,"* living in a village in the centre of the country.[4]

The consequence Kiriakou draws is institutional: *"the Greeks learned a lesson there and they stopped spying on Americans, just as a matter of policy."*[4]

> Kiriakou recalls the sentence as *"decades in prison"* in this telling and about seven years served in another; contemporaneous reporting records a 14-year sentence imposed in 1993.

## See also

- [Aldrich Ames](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/aldrich-ames)
- [Robert Hanssen](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/robert-hanssen)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. Deep Focus Podcast with John Kiriakou — The Global Power Struggles Reshaping the World (2026-06-28), at 22:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M0SqrsekWQ&t=1351s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-28-deep-focus-global-power-struggles/
2. Deep Focus Podcast with John Kiriakou — The Global Power Struggles Reshaping the World (2026-06-28), at 23:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M0SqrsekWQ&t=1411s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-28-deep-focus-global-power-struggles/
3. Epstein Files, CIA Asset Recruitments, Worst Spies & More I Going Deeper with JK - DEEP FOCUS (2026-02-03), at 26:41. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reYWaZFl3kA&t=1601s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-03-the-deep-focus-epstein-files-cia-asset-recruitments-worst-spies/
4. Epstein Files, CIA Asset Recruitments, Worst Spies & More I Going Deeper with JK - DEEP FOCUS (2026-02-03), at 27:14. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reYWaZFl3kA&t=1634s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-03-the-deep-focus-epstein-files-cia-asset-recruitments-worst-spies/

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