# The professor and the Ellsberg profile > **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 professor and the Ellsberg profile," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-professor-and-the-ellsberg-profile/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The story John Kiriakou says his CIA recruiter told him — that in 1971, as founder of the unit producing long-distance psychological profiles of foreign leaders, he was handed a file on Daniel Ellsberg, refused to profile an American citizen, and later discovered his boss had done it anyway under his name, which he testified to before the Watergate Committee.* - **Who:** Kiriakou's graduate school adviser, undercover as a professor - **Role at CIA:** Founder of the unit doing long-distance psychological and psychiatric profiles of foreign leaders - **Year:** 1971 - **Subject of the file:** Daniel Ellsberg - **His answer:** "Not a chance" - **What happened:** His boss did the profile and put his name on it - **Consequence:** Subpoenaed; testified before the Watergate Committee The [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) officer who recruited [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) was working undercover as a professor and became his graduate school adviser. Kiriakou says the man once told him a story that changed how he understood the recruitment. ## The unit Before the university posting, the officer had founded a unit inside the CIA that produced psychological and psychiatric examinations by long distance, mostly of foreign leaders.[1] ## The file In 1971, as he was about to leave on holiday, his boss came to him and asked for a psychological profile before he went, and handed him a file. The file was on [Daniel Ellsberg](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/daniel-ellsberg). It is illegal for the CIA to act against an American. In Kiriakou's retelling of the exchange, the officer said: "you want me to do a psychological evaluation on an American citizen? Not a chance" — and handed the file back.[1] ## What was done with his name He went on holiday. When he returned, a subpoena was waiting, from a congressional committee that wanted to know why he had done a psychological evaluation of Daniel Ellsberg. He had not. His boss had done it and written his name on it. He testified before the Watergate Committee: "this is wrong. I knew it was wrong. I refused to do it. And they knew it was wrong. And they did it anyway."[2][3] ## The lesson Kiriakou draws Kiriakou says the story "made me think that I was a lot more like him than I had realized. And I think he saw it in me before I ever saw it in him."[1] He attaches to it the moral he repeats about the agency: "sometimes you just have to stand up and call it like it is. One of the things about the CIA is, CIA culture is such that they want you to believe that everything is a shade of gray. And that's just simply not true. Some things are black and white."[4] The recruitment itself he describes as ordinary for the period: the officer was undercover as a professor, looking for people who might fit the CIA's culture, and thought Kiriakou would. It remained for the candidate to pass the tests, the polygraph and the background investigation. "I'll be forever indebted to him."[5] ## See also - [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) - [Daniel Ellsberg](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/daniel-ellsberg) - [The scholar-in-residence pipeline](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-recruitment-through-academia) - [Church Committee](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/church-committee) - [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) ## Sources 1. John Kiriakou, Whistleblower at the CIA (2019-02-21), at 26:29. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud2a56232bb&t=1589s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-02-21-foresight-with-ken-weaver-john-kiriakou-whistleblower-at-the-cia/ 2. John Kiriakou, Whistleblower at the CIA (2019-02-21), at 26:59. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud2a56232bb&t=1619s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-02-21-foresight-with-ken-weaver-john-kiriakou-whistleblower-at-the-cia/ 3. John Kiriakou, Whistleblower at the CIA (2019-02-21), at 27:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud2a56232bb&t=1651s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-02-21-foresight-with-ken-weaver-john-kiriakou-whistleblower-at-the-cia/ 4. John Kiriakou, Whistleblower at the CIA (2019-02-21), at 28:02. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud2a56232bb&t=1682s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-02-21-foresight-with-ken-weaver-john-kiriakou-whistleblower-at-the-cia/ 5. John Kiriakou, Whistleblower at the CIA (2019-02-21), at 25:25. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud2a56232bb&t=1525s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-02-21-foresight-with-ken-weaver-john-kiriakou-whistleblower-at-the-cia/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-professor-and-the-ellsberg-profile/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt