# The Cat in the Hat and Truck > **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: "The Cat in the Hat and Truck," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-cat-in-the-hat-and-truck/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The prison anecdote John Kiriakou uses to illustrate the CIA counter-accusation tradecraft he applied at FCI Loretto, a cellmate applicant called Cat in the Hat named him a rat to a serial killer named Truck within earshot; Kiriakou answered by remarking Cat in the Hat had earlier called Truck a pedophile; Truck beat Cat in the Hat almost to death and had to be lifelighted by helicopter to Pittsburgh.* - **Setting:** [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto), Pennsylvania (2013–2015) - **Truck (per Kiriakou):** A long-haul-trucker serial killer serving 40 years for strangling prostitutes at truck stops; had done 35 years already - **Cat in the Hat (per Kiriakou):** A murder-for-hire inmate, took a life-insurance policy on his business partner, hired a hitman, then *"ratted out the hitman"* to save himself - **Trigger:** Kiriakou was called down to the lieutenant's office to sign a waiver for a Jake Tapper CNN interview; Cat in the Hat told the man next to him Kiriakou *"got called down to rat us out"*, not knowing Kiriakou was standing behind him - **Kiriakou's move (per him, from CIA training):** *"Half an hour ago, I heard him call you a pedophile"* - **Result:** Truck beat Cat in the Hat *"almost to death"*, a helicopter landed in the yard to lifelight him to Pittsburgh; Truck got five years added and was sent back to medium security - **Followup:** Six weeks later Cat in the Hat returned to Loretto, apologised, Kiriakou's reply *"If I ever hear my name cross your lips ever again, you're dead and you'll never see it coming"* **The Cat in the Hat and Truck** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s canonical demonstration of how he applied CIA counter-accusation tradecraft in general population at [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto). Every principal has a nickname; the mechanics are simple; the outcome, one man airlifted to Pittsburgh, another moved out of Kiriakou's cellblock, carries the argument that his prison survival was not luck. ## The characters **Truck** was a long-haul trucker who *"in the days before DNA testing"* would pick up prostitutes at truck stops, *"have sex with them and then he would strangle them so he didn't have to pay them,"* then throw the bodies from the truck an hour or two later. He was caught after one victim survived and gave police the license plate. He was serving forty years and had done thirty-five by the time Kiriakou met him. For reasons Kiriakou never understood, *"he constantly sought my approval."*[1][2][3] **Cat in the Hat**, so-called *"cuz his head was oddly elongated, like a birth defect"*, wanted an open bunk in Kiriakou's four-man cell. Kiriakou's rule was *"no pedophiles and no rats."* Cat in the Hat volunteered he was in for murder-for-hire; Kiriakou looked the case up in the law library. The concealed fact was that he had ratted out his own hitman to reduce his sentence. *"So I said, 'No rats are allowed in the cell.'"*[3][4][5] ## The Jake Tapper visit The trigger was a Jake Tapper visit. Kiriakou was called to the lieutenant's office to sign a waiver for a CNN interview. *"Usually when you get called to the lieutenant's office, it's because either you're going to solitary or they want you to rat somebody out."* Cat in the Hat saw him leave, and later, standing *"two feet away"* from Kiriakou in the day room during a Steelers game and not realising it, told the inmate next to him: *"Kiriakou got called down to the lieutenant's office. That guy's a fucking rat. He got called down to rat us out."*[5][6] ## The counter-accusation Truck heard Cat in the Hat. Kiriakou did too. *"I didn't react at all. And Truck said, 'Did you hear that guy? He just said you're a fucking rat.'"* Kiriakou answered with a single sentence: *"Half an hour ago, I heard him call you a pedophile."*[6][7] *"Without saying a word, Truck got up and beat him almost to death. They had to land a helicopter in the yard to lifelight this guy to Pittsburgh. Truck got five years added to his sentence and he got sent back to a medium security prison."*[7] ## The apology Six weeks later Cat in the Hat returned to Loretto. *"People had told him what I had done. So he came back, he wouldn't make eye contact with me. He's like this. He's like, 'I'm sorry I called you a rat. I should never have said that. It wasn't true.'"* Kiriakou's reply: *"Look at me. As God is my witness, if I ever hear my name cross your lips ever again, you're dead and you'll never see it coming."* Cat in the Hat: *"I understand. I understand."*[8][9] ## The point Kiriakou draws He offers the sequence as the concrete answer to Doug Bopst's question about whether he ever had to use his CIA skills in prison. *"You bet. … I very much used my CIA skills every single day in prison. Sometimes it was as simple as playing these moronic guards off of each other, but usually it was more serious. It was to keep myself safe."* The book he wrote about it, *[Doing Time Like a Spy](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/doing-time-like-a-spy)*, is organised around twenty CIA lessons, starting with *"make strategic alliances, let others do your dirty work, admit nothing, deny everything, make counter accusations."*[10][11][9] ## See also - [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto) - [Doing Time Like a Spy](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/doing-time-like-a-spy) - [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) ## Sources 1. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou How to Escape The (2026-09-11), at 12:57. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbiZLz2ZJQ&t=777s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-09-11-doug-bopst-cia-whistleblower-how-to-escape-the/ 2. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou How to Escape The (2026-09-11), at 13:27. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbiZLz2ZJQ&t=807s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-09-11-doug-bopst-cia-whistleblower-how-to-escape-the/ 3. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou How to Escape The (2026-09-11), at 13:57. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbiZLz2ZJQ&t=837s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-09-11-doug-bopst-cia-whistleblower-how-to-escape-the/ 4. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou How to Escape The (2026-09-11), at 14:28. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbiZLz2ZJQ&t=868s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-09-11-doug-bopst-cia-whistleblower-how-to-escape-the/ 5. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou How to Escape The (2026-09-11), at 15:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbiZLz2ZJQ&t=900s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-09-11-doug-bopst-cia-whistleblower-how-to-escape-the/ 6. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou How to Escape The (2026-09-11), at 15:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbiZLz2ZJQ&t=930s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-09-11-doug-bopst-cia-whistleblower-how-to-escape-the/ 7. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou How to Escape The (2026-09-11), at 16:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbiZLz2ZJQ&t=963s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-09-11-doug-bopst-cia-whistleblower-how-to-escape-the/ 8. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou How to Escape The (2026-09-11), at 16:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbiZLz2ZJQ&t=996s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-09-11-doug-bopst-cia-whistleblower-how-to-escape-the/ 9. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou How to Escape The (2026-09-11), at 17:08. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbiZLz2ZJQ&t=1028s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-09-11-doug-bopst-cia-whistleblower-how-to-escape-the/ 10. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou How to Escape The (2026-09-11), at 09:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbiZLz2ZJQ&t=557s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-09-11-doug-bopst-cia-whistleblower-how-to-escape-the/ 11. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou How to Escape The (2026-09-11), at 12:25. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbiZLz2ZJQ&t=745s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-09-11-doug-bopst-cia-whistleblower-how-to-escape-the/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-cat-in-the-hat-and-truck/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt