# The forged award certificate > **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 forged award certificate," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-forged-award-certificate/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *A recruited source John Kiriakou says he brought to tears twice — first by telling him his reporting had gone directly to the president of the United States, then by presenting him with an award certificate Kiriakou had made himself in Word with clip art, the agency seal, and a forged signature of the director, which he then took back for safekeeping on the grounds that being seen with it would get the man killed.* - **Made in:** Word, with clip art - **Bearing:** The CIA seal and the director's forged signature - **Presented:** At the following month's meeting - **Retained:** By Kiriakou, on the stated grounds that possession would get the source killed - **Effect:** "He was ready to name his kids after me" **The forged award certificate** is a story [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) tells about the deliberate management of a source's vanity, and the second of two occasions on which he says he made the same man cry. ## The first tears The source had passed information that filled gaps for the analysts. *"I made a guy cry once in a meeting. So, he gave me some information. It was good. It was the analysts were happy with it."* Kiriakou told him where it had gone: *"Buddy, your information went directly to the president of the United States. He said, 'You're kidding me.' I said, 'No, directly to the president. I wrote the report. I sent it to the White House.'"*[1][2] ## The certificate The idea came from his supervisor. *"My boss says, 'You want to have some fun?' He goes, 'Dummy up an award certificate. Put the CIA seal on it.'"*[2] Kiriakou describes making it himself with office software. *"I did a in in just in Word, you know, and clip art. So, I did this, you know, Central Intelligence Agency, United States of America. Had the guy's name, a certificate of whatever. You put the CIA seal on it, and then I just forged the director's name because how's he going to know what the director's signature looks like?"*[2][3] He presented it at the next monthly meeting, with a callback to the previous one: *"I told you last month that your information went directly to the president of the United States. He said, 'Yes.' Said, 'I have something for you from the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.' And I give him this phony certificate. He looks at it and he bursts into tears."*[3] ## The retrieval The last move is the one that makes the object safe to fake: Kiriakou never let him keep it. *"But listen, you know, I have to take this back and keep it in the safe because you can't be seen with this. You'll be killed."* The source agreed instantly — *"Of course. Of course."*[4] Kiriakou states the operational lesson without softening it. *"I had him hooked. He was ready to name his kids after me. That's how successful it was. But you just play on their egos and they eat it up. They eat it up cuz they're all narcissists anyway. Not all, but you know, most of them are narcissists. They need to be stroked."*[4] ## See also - [The Grasshopper](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-grasshopper) - [Asset acquisition cycle](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/asset-acquisition-cycle) - [Walk-in](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/walk-in) - [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) ## Sources 1. John Kiriakou CIA Story Meme Compilation 7 (2026-02-27), at 00:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjH_6z96-Uo&t=0s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-viral-plug-john-kiriakou-cia-story-meme-compilation-7/ 2. John Kiriakou CIA Story Meme Compilation 7 (2026-02-27), at 00:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjH_6z96-Uo&t=30s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-viral-plug-john-kiriakou-cia-story-meme-compilation-7/ 3. John Kiriakou CIA Story Meme Compilation 7 (2026-02-27), at 01:01. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjH_6z96-Uo&t=61s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-viral-plug-john-kiriakou-cia-story-meme-compilation-7/ 4. John Kiriakou CIA Story Meme Compilation 7 (2026-02-27), at 01:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjH_6z96-Uo&t=91s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-viral-plug-john-kiriakou-cia-story-meme-compilation-7/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-forged-award-certificate/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt