# The State Department cover investigation > **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 State Department cover investigation," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-state-department-cover-investigation/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *One of the inquiries John Kiriakou opened as senior investigator on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on a reporter's tip that the CIA was placing some of its torturers under State Department cover in violation of the cover agreement between the two departments. He wrote to the State Department asking for clarification. Five or six weeks later a colleague told him a reply had come and had been classified above his clearance; asked what it said, the colleague summarised it as an obscenity. That was the end of the investigation.* - **Opened by:** [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) at the [Senate Foreign Relations Committee](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/senate-foreign-relations-committee) - **The tip:** A reporter's information that CIA torturers were being placed under State Department cover - **Why that matters:** It would violate the cover agreement between the CIA and the State Department - **The action taken:** A letter to the State Department asking for clarification - **The reply:** Classified top secret, above Kiriakou's own clearance, five or six weeks later - **What it said:** A colleague's summary: 'go f--- yourself' **The State Department cover investigation** was one of several inquiries [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) opened while serving as senior investigator on the [Senate Foreign Relations Committee](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/senate-foreign-relations-committee), and one of several that were closed on him. ## The tip *"I got a call from a reporter who told me that he had some information that seemed to indicate that the CIA was taking its torturers and putting them under State Department cover"*, which, Kiriakou notes, *"was a violation of the cover agreement between the CIA and the State Department."*[1][2] ## The letter He did what the job allowed: *"I sent the State Department a letter asking for clarification."* Then nothing, for *"something like five, six weeks."*[2] ## The answer *"Finally a colleague of mine comes into my office and says, oh, you got a response to your letter from the agency. I said, I didn't get any response. He said, well, they classified it top secret and you're not cleared for it."*[3] Asked what the response said, the colleague smiled and gave the substance: *"they said go f--- yourself. So that was the end of that investigation."*[3] ## In sequence Kiriakou places this inquiry immediately after [the Dasht-i-Leili massacre](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/dasht-i-leili-massacre) investigation, which the committee's own deputy staff director had ordered him to drop within days of his writing to the agency.[4][1] He treats the pair as part of a pattern that ran for another three years, *"there were other investigations too, at which I was poking them"*, before the charges came.[5] ## See also - [Senate Foreign Relations Committee](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/senate-foreign-relations-committee) - [Dasht-i-Leili massacre](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/dasht-i-leili-massacre) - [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) ## Sources 1. Why I Was Targeted (RAI pt 9, probe dup) (2023-04-25), at 20:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh7Ujo6BsEs&t=1240s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-04-25-real-news-reality-asserts-itself-why-i-was-targeted-rai-pt-9-probe-dup/ 2. Why I Was Targeted (RAI pt 9, probe dup) (2023-04-25), at 21:11. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh7Ujo6BsEs&t=1271s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-04-25-real-news-reality-asserts-itself-why-i-was-targeted-rai-pt-9-probe-dup/ 3. Why I Was Targeted (RAI pt 9, probe dup) (2023-04-25), at 21:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh7Ujo6BsEs&t=1302s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-04-25-real-news-reality-asserts-itself-why-i-was-targeted-rai-pt-9-probe-dup/ 4. Why I Was Targeted (RAI pt 9, probe dup) (2023-04-25), at 18:14. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh7Ujo6BsEs&t=1094s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-04-25-real-news-reality-asserts-itself-why-i-was-targeted-rai-pt-9-probe-dup/ 5. Why I Was Targeted (RAI pt 9, probe dup) (2023-04-25), at 22:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh7Ujo6BsEs&t=1333s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-04-25-real-news-reality-asserts-itself-why-i-was-targeted-rai-pt-9-probe-dup/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-state-department-cover-investigation/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt