# "The Spy Who Talked Too Much"

> **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 Spy Who Talked Too Much"," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-spy-who-talked-too-much/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*Steve Coll's New Yorker profile of John Kiriakou, written after Coll had been welcomed into his home, and which Kiriakou telephoned him from prison to complain about. Coll's defence was that authors do not write their own headlines, a defence Kiriakou concedes, while still rating Coll among the country's great investigative journalists.*

- **Author:** Steve Coll
- **Where:** The New Yorker
- **Kiriakou's first reaction:** "I wanted to punch him in his face"
- **The call:** Made from prison
- **Coll's defence:** Authors do not write the headline
- **Kiriakou's verdict on Coll:** "One of the country's great investigative journalists"

**"The Spy Who Talked Too Much"** is a New Yorker article about [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) by the journalist Steve Coll, and the reason Kiriakou says he hates complimenting him.

Asked in 2026 where Coll's book on the CIA in Pakistan and Afghanistan got things right, Kiriakou opened with the grievance rather than the answer: *"I hate complimenting Steve Coll. Steve Coll wrote an article about me in the New Yorker called 'The Spy Who Talked Too Much.' And I wanted to punch him in his face. And that was after I welcomed him into my home and he held my kids."*[1]

He telephoned Coll to yell at him about it, *"from prison, no less"*, and got the standard journalistic answer: the author does not write the headline.[2] Kiriakou concedes the point, both as a matter of fact and from his own experience as a writer: *"I never ever write my own headlines, never. I always suggest one, they almost never use it."* Twice a suggestion of his had been used, both times at Consortium News.[2][3]

## The verdict on the work

Having registered the grievance, Kiriakou's assessment of the work is unreserved. Coll is *"one of the country's great writers, one of the country's great investigative journalists,"* and in addition to that the dean of the school of journalism at Columbia, *"a very big deal."*[3]

On the book itself he had gone looking for fault and failed to find it: *"That book was excellent, I have to say. And I'm not sure he missed nuance. I think he pretty well got it."* And afterwards: *"as I read it I wanted to criticize him and I couldn't."*[3][4]

## See also

- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)
- [The book the publisher sat on](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-book-the-publisher-sat-on)
- [The Cia Insiders Guide Omnibus](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-cia-insiders-guide-omnibus)
- [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia)

## Sources

1. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-03-20), at 26:07. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=145C1-XphQs&t=1567s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-20-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
2. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-03-20), at 26:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=145C1-XphQs&t=1598s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-20-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
3. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-03-20), at 27:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=145C1-XphQs&t=1629s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-20-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
4. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-03-20), at 27:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=145C1-XphQs&t=1660s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-20-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/

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