# The Grasshopper > **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 Grasshopper," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-grasshopper/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *A recruited terrorist source John Kiriakou ran under a cryptonym, who called him after midnight on a dedicated burner, met him behind a church with a paper bag of his wife's gold jewellery, and was given five thousand dollars from station funds as what the chief of station called an early Christmas bonus.* - **Cryptonym used:** Grasshopper - **Background:** A member of a terrorist group that had fallen out of fashion; later involved with anarchists - **Contact:** A burner telephone kept for him alone, with a fixed challenge and response - **The approach:** A paper bag of his wife's gold jewellery, offered for sale - **The payment:** $5,000 from the station, signed for as an early Christmas bonus **The Grasshopper** is the cryptonym [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) uses when telling the story of a recruited source whose case turned, briefly, into a domestic emergency. ## The recruitment Kiriakou describes the man's position as one that made recruitment straightforward. *"He's broke. He's just a terrorist. You can't make any money from terrorism. So I started paying him. And I was paying him pretty handsomely, too. And he was giving me good information, like operational information."*[1] The source's own affiliation shifted during the relationship. *"This terrorist group had sort of fallen out of fashion, and he became involved with a group of anarchists. And what they wanted to do was just blow [expletive] up for no reason other than to, you know, shout, 'Yay, anarchy.'"*[2] ## The call The contact procedure is the tradecraft detail Kiriakou lingers on. The man called around eleven at night on a telephone kept for him alone — *"it was him, cuz I had this phone that was just for him. It was a burner"* — and opened with the fixed nonsense phrase they had agreed. *"He says, uh 'Hi. The the rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain.' And so I said, 'Oh, ears eat oats and dosey doats and little lambs eat ivy.' And he laughed and I laughed and we hung up."* The exchange, Kiriakou explains, meant a meeting in the car park of a toy store at two in the morning — the same challenge-and-response discipline described at [the exchange of bona fides](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/exchange-of-bona-fides).[3] ## The jewellery What the source wanted was not operational. *"he's like, 'I'm I'm desperate. I'm broke.' He goes, 'My my daughter's sick. We have these unexpected medical bills.'"* He had brought a paper bag full of gold jewellery — *"'It's all my wife's jewelry,' he said. 'Can you buy it from me?'"* Kiriakou refused on the ground that he could not value it: *"Dude, I'm not a jeweler. I have no idea what this stuff is worth."* They agreed to meet the following midnight behind a church in a northern suburb.[4] The resolution came from the chief of station the next morning. Told the sum needed was five thousand dollars, he answered: *"He's been good. Just give him the five grand. We'll call it a We'll call it an early Christmas bonus."*[5] Kiriakou met him behind the church, handed over the money, and had him sign the receipt. *"He was forever indebted to me. He actually cried when I when I left to return to headquarters. He's like, 'I'm not sure I can work with anybody else.'"* Kiriakou's reassurance was unsentimental: *"Oh, you're going to be fine. Everybody else has money that's just as green as the money that I carry."*[6] ## See also - [Exchange of bona fides](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/exchange-of-bona-fides) - [Asset acquisition cycle](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/asset-acquisition-cycle) - [The Forged Award Certificate](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-forged-award-certificate) - [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) ## Sources 1. John Kiriakou CIA Story Meme Compilation - PART 2 (2026-02-18), at 06:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wccHWJxfcXk&t=402s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-18-viral-plug-john-kiriakou-cia-story-meme-compilation-part/ 2. John Kiriakou CIA Story Meme Compilation - PART 2 (2026-02-18), at 07:15. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wccHWJxfcXk&t=435s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-18-viral-plug-john-kiriakou-cia-story-meme-compilation-part/ 3. John Kiriakou CIA Story Meme Compilation - PART 2 (2026-02-18), at 07:47. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wccHWJxfcXk&t=467s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-18-viral-plug-john-kiriakou-cia-story-meme-compilation-part/ 4. John Kiriakou CIA Story Meme Compilation - PART 2 (2026-02-18), at 08:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wccHWJxfcXk&t=497s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-18-viral-plug-john-kiriakou-cia-story-meme-compilation-part/ 5. John Kiriakou CIA Story Meme Compilation - PART 2 (2026-02-18), at 08:47. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wccHWJxfcXk&t=527s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-18-viral-plug-john-kiriakou-cia-story-meme-compilation-part/ 6. John Kiriakou CIA Story Meme Compilation - PART 2 (2026-02-18), at 09:18. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wccHWJxfcXk&t=558s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-18-viral-plug-john-kiriakou-cia-story-meme-compilation-part/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-grasshopper/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt