# The declination letter > **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 declination letter," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-declination-letter/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The letter the Justice Department sent John Kiriakou's attorneys in December 2008 declining to prosecute him, on the grounds that the torture allegations were already public through human rights organizations and that it is illegal to classify a crime — and the celebration dinner that was followed three weeks later by Barack Obama's inauguration.* - **Sent:** December 2008 - **By:** The Justice Department, to Kiriakou's attorneys - **Investigation covered:** December 2007 to December 2008 - **Ground given:** The material was already public - **Second ground:** It is illegal to classify a crime - **What followed:** The case was secretly reopened weeks later The **declination letter** was the Justice Department's decision, communicated to John Kiriakou's attorneys in December 2008, not to prosecute him over his December 2007 ABC News interview. ## The investigation Kiriakou has said that the day after the broadcast the CIA filed what is called a crimes report against him with the FBI, alleging that he had revealed classified information to the public. The FBI investigated him from December 2007 to December 2008. [1] ## The grounds At the end of that year the department sent his attorneys a letter declining to prosecute. Kiriakou has given two reasons as stated in it. The first was that Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Committee of the Red Cross had all published papers saying that the CIA was torturing its prisoners — that it was, in his phrase, the worst kept secret in Washington. [2] The second was the legal principle he has repeated ever since: that it is illegal to classify a crime. As he puts it, a programme in which CIA officers are violating United States law cannot be classified. [3] ## The celebration Kiriakou and his wife went out to dinner that night to celebrate. [2] [3] ## What followed Three weeks later Barack Obama was inaugurated and named John Brennan deputy national security advisor for counterterrorism. Kiriakou has said the two men had always disliked each other, that he never trusted Brennan, and that Brennan was one of the godfathers of the torture programme. [2] [4] Kiriakou says he had no idea that within days of the inauguration Brennan asked the Justice Department to secretly reopen the case; that for the next three years his telephones were tapped and his email intercepted; and that teams of FBI agents followed him everywhere, including into church. He was charged in January 2012 with five felonies, including three counts of espionage. [5] [6] ## A year of investigation, then a celebration dinner The sequence Kiriakou describes begins the day after the December 2007 ABC interview, when the CIA filed a crimes report against him with the FBI alleging he had exposed classified information in violation of the [Espionage Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/espionage-act). The Bureau then investigated him for a full year, from December 2007 to December 2008.[7] In December 2008 his attorneys received the declination letter, stating that prosecutors were declining to charge him because they did not believe he had revealed classified information. Off the record, one of the FBI agents told his attorney *"that the torture program was the worst kept secret in Washington."* Kiriakou and [his wife](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/heather-kiriakou) — herself then a senior serving CIA officer — went out to dinner that night to celebrate the year-long cloud lifting.[8][9] It did not last four weeks.[9] ## See also - [John Brennan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-brennan) - [Brian Ross](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/brian-ross) - [CIA crimes reports against Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-crimes-reports) - [Bankruptcy And The Dropped Charges](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bankruptcy-and-the-dropped-charges) - [The rogue officer remark](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-rogue-officer-remark) ## Sources 1. likely = ingested ev1ozulvly8 (2025-04-16), at 49:43. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B70zQHKcSxE&t=2983s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-16-the-dr-phil-podcast-likely-ingested-ev1ozulvly8/ 2. likely = ingested ev1ozulvly8 (2025-04-16), at 50:15. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B70zQHKcSxE&t=3015s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-16-the-dr-phil-podcast-likely-ingested-ev1ozulvly8/ 3. Episode 572 Blowing the Whistle with John Kiriakou (2021-09-25), at 57:01. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=audd3a7d0e6&t=3421s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-09-25-abe-lincoln-s-top-hat-episode-572-blowing-the-whistle-with-john-kir/ 4. Episode 572 Blowing the Whistle with John Kiriakou (2021-09-25), at 57:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=audd3a7d0e6&t=3453s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-09-25-abe-lincoln-s-top-hat-episode-572-blowing-the-whistle-with-john-kir/ 5. likely = ingested ev1ozulvly8 (2025-04-16), at 51:16. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B70zQHKcSxE&t=3076s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-16-the-dr-phil-podcast-likely-ingested-ev1ozulvly8/ 6. Episode 572 Blowing the Whistle with John Kiriakou (2021-09-25), at 58:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=audd3a7d0e6&t=3485s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-09-25-abe-lincoln-s-top-hat-episode-572-blowing-the-whistle-with-john-kir/ 7. Biden denies CIA torture victims their day in court (2022-04-01), at 22:48. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss5de56833&t=1368s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-01-scheer-intelligence-biden-denies-cia-torture-victims-their-day-in/ 8. Biden denies CIA torture victims their day in court (2022-04-01), at 23:24. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss5de56833&t=1404s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-01-scheer-intelligence-biden-denies-cia-torture-victims-their-day-in/ 9. Biden denies CIA torture victims their day in court (2022-04-01), at 23:58. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss5de56833&t=1438s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-01-scheer-intelligence-biden-denies-cia-torture-victims-their-day-in/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-declination-letter/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt