# The four-question torture exam > **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 four-question torture exam," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-four-question-torture-exam/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *A final examination set by a former CIA officer teaching alongside John Kiriakou at Liberty University, consisting of four escalating questions about whether the student would torture, the terrorist, then his wife in front of him, then their children, with the last question asking the student to justify the previous three answers to God. Kiriakou describes it as the most powerful exam he has ever seen.* - **Set by:** A senior professor of thirty years, formerly a CIA officer - **Where:** The Jesse Helms School of Government, [Liberty University](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/liberty-university) - **Format:** Four questions, each answered yes or no and then explained - **Question one:** A bomb in two hours and a confirmed terrorist in custody - **Question four:** You have died, and God asks you to explain yourself - **Kiriakou''s verdict:** 'It has stuck in my mind all these years' While serving as an adjunct professor of intelligence studies at the Jesse Helms School of Government at [Liberty University](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/liberty-university), [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) worked alongside a senior colleague who had taught there for thirty years and had himself been a [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) officer early in his career. One day the colleague showed him the final examination he set his students. *"It was such a powerful exam. It has stuck in my mind all these years. It was just a handful of questions."*[1] ## The questions The first is the [ticking-bomb](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ticking-time-bomb) scenario in its standard form: *"You have captured a bona fide terrorist. You know that a bomb is going to go off in a major American city. You have two hours to get the information and defuse the bomb. Do you torture this man? Yes, no, explain yourself."*[2] The second removes the prisoner as the object: *"Fifteen minutes later, the guy is a true believer. He didn't give you anything. But you have his wife in custody. Do you beat his wife in front of him just to get him to give you the information? Remember, American lives are on the line. Yes, no, explain yourself."*[2] The third repeats the move: *"The wife's a true believer too, but you have their children in custody. Do you beat the children, or threaten to beat the children? Yes, no, explain yourself."*[3] The fourth changes the examiner. *"You've died and you're at the gates of heaven, and Peter refers you to God himself, and he says: now you explain yourself. What do you tell him?"*[4] ## Why it lands where it does The exam's design places the ordinary justification, that American lives are at stake, at every step, and then withdraws the audience that the justification was written for. Kiriakou pairs the exam with his own account of what the program actually did with the third question: he was unaware of any children being beaten, but says the threat was made *"quite frequently"*.[4] ## See also - [Liberty University](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/liberty-university) - [Ticking time bomb scenario](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ticking-time-bomb) - [Enhanced interrogation techniques](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/enhanced-interrogation) - [Military Ethics](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/military-ethics) - [Moral Injury](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/moral-injury) ## Sources 1. One America News Network (2026-02-27), at 23:02. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulc3YGqjKvk&t=1382s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-one-america-news-network-one-america-news-network/ 2. One America News Network (2026-02-27), at 23:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulc3YGqjKvk&t=1413s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-one-america-news-network-one-america-news-network/ 3. One America News Network (2026-02-27), at 24:04. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulc3YGqjKvk&t=1444s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-one-america-news-network-one-america-news-network/ 4. One America News Network (2026-02-27), at 24:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulc3YGqjKvk&t=1475s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-one-america-news-network-one-america-news-network/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-four-question-torture-exam/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt