# The walk-in who was a probe > **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 walk-in who was a probe," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-walk-in-probe/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The man who presented himself at the American embassy in Athens claiming to be an Arab with information, and whom John Kiriakou interrogated the next day in a rolling meeting through the city — catching him reversing his own alias, while a hostile embassy's surveillance car followed and Kiriakou's boss ended it by putting a pistol to the man's cheek.* - **Where:** Athens, 1998 - **Method:** A rolling meeting, conducted in Arabic - **The tell:** He introduced himself as Mohammed Abdullah, then called himself Abdullah Mohammed - **Escort:** A chase car and a motorcycle; a hostile embassy's car behind them - **End:** Ejected from the car at gunpoint **The walk-in who was a probe** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s account of his first encounter with a hostile intelligence service's testing operation, early in his Athens tour. A man presented himself at the embassy with a story. Kiriakou wanted him out of the building quickly — both to check anything he claimed and to stop him identifying weaknesses in embassy security — and told him they would talk the next day in front of the Marriott, on neutral ground. Then he wrote a cable to headquarters setting out what had happened and what was planned.[1] ## The rolling meeting The next day's party was heavier than the meeting suggested: a security officer driving, Kiriakou's boss in the passenger seat, Kiriakou in the back, all armed and in body armour, with two more officers in a car behind and a colleague on a motorcycle behind that. The training assumption is that the whole approach may be a device to draw an officer out and put a bullet in his head, so the man is frisked on contact. Kiriakou patted him down in front of the hotel and found nothing.[2][3] The man claimed no English and the entire conversation was conducted in Arabic, with Kiriakou translating for his boss. The story came back the same each time and *"very light on detail, which told me immediately that the whole thing's made up."* Kiriakou kept asking for it again, hoping he would trip.[4][5] Meanwhile three layers of vehicles moved through the city: surveillance, counter-surveillance and counter-counter-surveillance. Kiriakou's own chase car, a block back rather than *"an episode of Kojak"*, saw that the hostile embassy had put its own men directly behind them; the motorcycle was watching for a second hostile car, which never appeared.[6][5] ## The slip The man had introduced himself the day before as Mohammed Abdullah — a name, Kiriakou notes, shared by perhaps half a billion people. In the car he slipped and called himself Abdullah Mohammed. That settled it.[7] It was also dangerous, and Kiriakou's boss lost patience: he turned in the front seat, put a pistol against the man's cheek, and told him in English to get out. The walk-in answered in English — *"so this is how it ends, huh?"* — and got out. The chase car and motorcycle followed him; a car collected him and drove straight back to its embassy without so much as a glance in the mirror.[8][9] Kiriakou files it as three firsts at once: his first walk-in, his first probe, *"and it was my first experience with an enemy who meant to kill me."*[9] ## See also - [Walk-in](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/walk-in) - [Intelligence Peddlers](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/intelligence-peddlers) - [Surveillance detection route](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/surveillance-detection-route) - [The Athens carjacking](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/athens-carjacking) ## Sources 1. S1E9 The Hothead (2026-01-05), at 26:47. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6951d0bf30165a956d618669/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-05-dead-drop-s1e9-the-hothead/ 2. S1E9 The Hothead (2026-01-05), at 27:18. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6951d0bf30165a956d618669/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-05-dead-drop-s1e9-the-hothead/ 3. S1E9 The Hothead (2026-01-05), at 27:50. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6951d0bf30165a956d618669/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-05-dead-drop-s1e9-the-hothead/ 4. S1E9 The Hothead (2026-01-05), at 28:20. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6951d0bf30165a956d618669/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-05-dead-drop-s1e9-the-hothead/ 5. S1E9 The Hothead (2026-01-05), at 30:24. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6951d0bf30165a956d618669/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-05-dead-drop-s1e9-the-hothead/ 6. S1E9 The Hothead (2026-01-05), at 29:53. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6951d0bf30165a956d618669/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-05-dead-drop-s1e9-the-hothead/ 7. S1E9 The Hothead (2026-01-05), at 30:55. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6951d0bf30165a956d618669/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-05-dead-drop-s1e9-the-hothead/ 8. S1E9 The Hothead (2026-01-05), at 31:28. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6951d0bf30165a956d618669/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-05-dead-drop-s1e9-the-hothead/ 9. S1E9 The Hothead (2026-01-05), at 31:58. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6951d0bf30165a956d618669/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-05-dead-drop-s1e9-the-hothead/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-walk-in-probe/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt