# The counterintelligence exemption > **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 counterintelligence exemption," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-counterintelligence-exemption/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The rule John Kiriakou says makes counterintelligence the darkest corner of American intelligence: such cases are the only category that need not be briefed to the congressional oversight committees, because a mole hunt might implicate a member of those very committees. He argues Mike Pompeo's description of WikiLeaks as a hostile non-state intelligence service was chosen precisely to move the Assange operation into that exempt category, where a killing in a London street would never have had to be explained.* - **Who runs such cases:** The CIA's counterintelligence centre - **The rule:** The only cases that need not be briefed to the House and Senate oversight committees - **The stated reason:** A mole investigation might reach the committees themselves - **How it was invoked:** [Mike Pompeo](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mike-pompeo) calling WikiLeaks 'a hostile, non-state intelligence service' - **What that would have permitted:** An operation against [Julian Assange](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/julian-assange) that Congress would never have been told about **The counterintelligence exemption** is the carve-out [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) says removes an entire class of CIA operations from congressional oversight. ## The rule Counterintelligence cases are run by the agency's counterintelligence centre, and *"counterintelligence cases are the most highly classified cases that the CIA handles. They're so highly classified that they are the only cases that don't have to be briefed to the House and Senate oversight committees."*[1] The justification he gives for the exemption is internal to the logic of a mole hunt. *"Counterintelligence usually means that you're working for a foreign power, a foreign government. Well, if the CIA is investigating a mole, who's to say that the mole maybe isn't the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee? Or the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee? So those are all held internally."*[1][2] ## How Kiriakou says it was used His point is that the category can be entered by describing a target in the right words. A couple of days before the [reported plot against Julian Assange](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mike-pompeo) became public, [Mike Pompeo](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mike-pompeo) had called WikiLeaks *"a hostile, non-state intelligence service."* Kiriakou's reading: *"those words were very carefully chosen, because if WikiLeaks is a hostile, non-state intelligence service, that makes this whole case a counterintelligence case."*[3] The consequence is the point of the exercise. Had the operation been carried out under that heading, *"all anybody would know was that Julian Assange tried to leave the embassy, the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and he was shot dead, period. And that's the end of the story."*[2] Kiriakou rejects the characterisation itself: WikiLeaks *"is not"* an intelligence service, *"it's a transparency and journalism outlet, but that's what they don't want people to think."*[4] ## See also - [Mike Pompeo](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mike-pompeo) - [Julian Assange](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/julian-assange) - [Congressional intelligence oversight](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/congressional-intelligence-oversight) - [Covert action programs](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/covert-action-program) ## Sources 1. "It's Not About Justice" (2023-10-24), at 15:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dIlf769DK0&t=906s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-10-24-projectcensored-it-s-not-about-justice/ 2. "It's Not About Justice" (2023-10-24), at 15:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dIlf769DK0&t=940s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-10-24-projectcensored-it-s-not-about-justice/ 3. "It's Not About Justice" (2023-10-24), at 14:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dIlf769DK0&t=874s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-10-24-projectcensored-it-s-not-about-justice/ 4. "It's Not About Justice" (2023-10-24), at 16:14. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dIlf769DK0&t=974s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-10-24-projectcensored-it-s-not-about-justice/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-counterintelligence-exemption/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt