# The clear and present danger finding > **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 clear and present danger finding," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-clear-and-present-danger-finding/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The presidential determination John Kiriakou says must precede any CIA paramilitary targeted killing — an assertion that the person concerned is a clear and present danger to the United States, to an American installation, or to an American person — and his judgement that in early 2026 that threshold had not been reached in Iran.* - **Who makes it:** The President - **What it asserts:** That a person is a clear and present danger to the US, to an American installation, or to an American person - **What it authorises:** CIA paramilitary officers on the ground carrying out targeted killings - **Kiriakou's 2026 assessment:** "I don't think we're there" - **Caveat given:** "My my information is dated" **The clear and present danger finding** is the authorisation [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) describes as standing between the CIA's paramilitary capability and its use, set out in answer to a viewer who asked whether CIA paramilitary officers were already on the ground in Iran in early 2026. ## The answer Kiriakou's estimate was that they were not, hedged with a caveat about his own currency. *"I would say probably not. Now, granted, my my information is dated."*[1] ## The requirement What he offers in place of current knowledge is the procedure. To have CIA paramilitary officers on the ground carrying out targeted killings, *"the president would have to um assert that a person is uh what's called a clear and present danger to the United States, to an American installation, um and to or to an American person."*[1][2] The finding is therefore person-specific rather than theatre-wide: it attaches to a named individual and to a category of American interest that the individual is said to endanger. A war does not supply it automatically.[2] ## The inference Kiriakou reasons from the absence of the finding to the absence of the officers: *"And I I don't think we're there."* The claim is not that the capability is unavailable but that the legal predicate has not been laid.[2] ## Why the standard matters to him The threshold is the same one that underlies Kiriakou's broader moral objection to the agency. Asked in a separate session whether the CIA was the world's most moral intelligence service, he answered that [most other countries' services are more moral](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/more-moral-than-the-cia), and located the disqualifying conduct precisely in killing *"people whose politics you don't don't like, but who pose no threat to the United States."*[3] The clear and present danger finding is the formal expression of the distinction he is making: a requirement that lethal action be tied to a demonstrated threat rather than to a disliked politics. His criticism of the CIA is not that the requirement exists but that, in his account, it has not reliably constrained what the organisation does.[2] ## See also - ["Most other countries are more moral than the CIA"](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/more-moral-than-the-cia) - [The CIA as a paramilitary organization](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-cia-as-a-paramilitary-organization) - [Covert action programs](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/covert-action-program) - [Marco Rubio and Iran policy](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/marco-rubio-and-iran-policy) ## Sources 1. John Kiriakou & Ted Rall's Live IRAN WAR Q&A / DeProgram Show (2026-03-01), at 18:18. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swDJSeo-Et0&t=1098s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-john-kiriakou-ted-rall-s-live-iran-war-q-a-de/ 2. John Kiriakou & Ted Rall's Live IRAN WAR Q&A / DeProgram Show (2026-03-01), at 18:49. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swDJSeo-Et0&t=1129s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-john-kiriakou-ted-rall-s-live-iran-war-q-a-de/ 3. Iran Escalation, Captured Spies: What Really Happens? And More I Going Deeper w/JK - DEEP FOCUS (2026-03-03), at 24:57. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4_p0sXfdMU&t=1497s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-03-the-deep-focus-iran-escalation-captured-spies-what-really-happens/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-clear-and-present-danger-finding/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt