# The chain of command argument > **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 chain of command argument," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-chain-of-command-argument/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *John Kiriakou's standing rejection of the advice given to new intelligence officers, that evidence of waste, fraud, abuse or illegality should be taken up the chain of command, supported by the fates of Thomas Drake, William Binney, Kirk Wiebe and Diane Roark, and by the fact that his own chain of command had created the torture programme.* - **What officers are taught:** Report waste, fraud, abuse or illegality up the chain - **Drake's outcome:** Nine felony charges, including seven of espionage - **Binney, Wiebe and Roark:** Arrested and harassed by police - **Kiriakou's reason for not doing so:** His chain of command created the torture programme - **Where he went instead:** The press **The chain of command argument** is John Kiriakou's standing objection to the internal reporting procedure that intelligence officers are told to use. ## What officers are taught Kiriakou has said that in the American intelligence community officers are taught when first hired that if they see evidence of waste, fraud, abuse or illegality, they should go through the chain of command. [1] ## Why he rejects it His position is that this has been proven not to work, time and time again, and he offers examples. Thomas Drake went through the chain of command and was rewarded with nine felony charges, including seven counts of espionage. William Binney, Kirk Wiebe and Diane Roark went through their chains of command and were arrested and harassed by the police. [1] His own reason was more specific. He has said he did not go through his chain of command because his chain of command created the CIA's torture programme. He went to the press instead. [2] ## The advice he gives Kiriakou has said that would-be whistleblowers contact him constantly, and that they ask him where in the media they should go. His 2018 answer was that outlets such as the *New York Times*, the *Washington Post* and the Intercept have encryption keys on their websites, but that he trusts none of them, and that the only place to go is WikiLeaks, on the ground that it is the only organization that has never blown a source. [2] [3] ## What is lost when there is nowhere to go He has framed the consequence in terms of the public rather than the whistleblower. If there is no outlet, the information never becomes public, and citizens do not learn what their government is doing in their name, a right he calls one of the most important an American can have. He adds the legal point he has made consistently since his own case: that it is illegal in the United States to classify something that is a crime, or to classify something so that it cannot go public. [4] [5] ## "There were no good guys in this scenario" Put to him again in 2023, the question draws the same two-part answer. *"People ask me all the time, 'Well, why didn't you go through the chain of command?' Well, my chain of command created the torture program and implemented the torture program"*, and the oversight route was closed for the same reason, Congress having appropriated the funds for it.[6][7] The conclusion is stated without hedging: *"So, there were no good guys in this scenario. The only place to go was the media."* He extends the point to the report's own author, noting that [Dianne Feinstein](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/dianne-feinstein) knew and did not go public.[6][7] Asked how many did, he counts them on his hands: [Bill Binney](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bill-binney), Kirk Wiebe and [Thomas Drake](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/thomas-drake) at NSA; [Daniel Hale](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/daniel-hale) and Lisa Ling at the Air Force in the drone programme; [Edward Snowden](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/edward-snowden) at NSA and CIA. *"Even after 50 years after Dan Ellsberg, you can count us on two hands. That's it"*, against the thousands inside government who knew.[8][6] ## See also - [Thomas Drake](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/thomas-drake) - [Wikileaks as a System](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/wikileaks-as-a-system) - [The Intercept](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-intercept) - [The Declination Letter](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-declination-letter) ## Sources 1. #Unity4J (2018-07-19), at 01:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRvbkLfSFgw&t=95s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2018-07-19-unity4j-unity4j/ 2. #Unity4J (2018-07-19), at 02:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRvbkLfSFgw&t=125s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2018-07-19-unity4j-unity4j/ 3. #Unity4J (2018-07-19), at 02:37. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRvbkLfSFgw&t=157s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2018-07-19-unity4j-unity4j/ 4. #Unity4J (2018-07-19), at 03:41. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRvbkLfSFgw&t=221s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2018-07-19-unity4j-unity4j/ 5. #Unity4J (2018-07-19), at 04:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRvbkLfSFgw&t=253s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2018-07-19-unity4j-unity4j/ 6. Ex-CIA Officer Exposes the Torture Program (2023-09-22), at 34:59. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72EuwXMxSAQ&t=2099s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-09-22-ex-cia-officer-exposes-the-torture-program/ 7. Ex-CIA Officer Exposes the Torture Program (2023-09-22), at 35:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72EuwXMxSAQ&t=2131s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-09-22-ex-cia-officer-exposes-the-torture-program/ 8. Ex-CIA Officer Exposes the Torture Program (2023-09-22), at 34:28. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72EuwXMxSAQ&t=2068s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-09-22-ex-cia-officer-exposes-the-torture-program/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-chain-of-command-argument/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt