# The Satan dream

> **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 Satan dream," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-satan-dream/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*Seventeen years after leaving Pakistan, John Kiriakou said he still dreamt about it every night — a recurring dream of Satan hunting him house to house — and described a failed blood pressure drug now used to erase the dreams of PTSD patients.*

Asked whether the work had left him with night terrors, Kiriakou answered plainly: he left Pakistan seventeen years earlier and still dreamt about it every single night.[1]

## The dream

The recurring dream is of Satan pursuing him, chasing him from house to house — and, when he is asked whether he means it literally, he says he does, with horns and a spiked tail and everything. In the dream he is running around Peshawar in Pakistan trying to take cover, and the places are all one-room mud huts or concrete block. What he feels is that he cannot hide there; Satan is nearby and is going to find him for sure.[2]

Asked whether he believes in the supernatural, and whether that has to do with his Orthodox upbringing, Kiriakou said simply that he believes in God and the devil.[2]

## The drug

He followed the answer with a piece of pharmacology. The Veterans Administration, he said, was developing a blood pressure medication whose name he could not recall beyond that it starts with a P, and gave it to patients at VA hospitals. It did nothing at all for their blood pressure. It had the odd side effect of making them forget what they had dreamt the night before, and it is now used, quite effectively, for post-traumatic stress disorder.[3]

## The comparison

Asked which had been worse, the years undercover in Pakistan or the prison sentence that followed his disclosures, Kiriakou did not hesitate: prison was a piece of cake. What he describes as the harder thing was the constant concern for his personal safety in Pakistan, and the demand of never being off the part.[4]

## See also

- [Pakistan Station (2002)](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/pakistan-station-2002)
- [Moral Injury](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/moral-injury)
- [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto)

## Sources

1. Explores Life as a Spy (2022-04-07), at 13:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOgFKuk-VyU&t=818s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-07-david-gornoski-explores-life-as-a-spy/
2. Explores Life as a Spy (2022-04-07), at 14:08. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOgFKuk-VyU&t=848s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-07-david-gornoski-explores-life-as-a-spy/
3. Explores Life as a Spy (2022-04-07), at 14:39. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOgFKuk-VyU&t=879s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-07-david-gornoski-explores-life-as-a-spy/
4. Explores Life as a Spy (2022-04-07), at 15:10. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOgFKuk-VyU&t=910s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-07-david-gornoski-explores-life-as-a-spy/

---

From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-satan-dream/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt