# United Food and Commercial Workers

> **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: "United Food and Commercial Workers," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/united-food-and-commercial-workers/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The huge K Street labor union where a young John Kiriakou, from a family with a long labor history, was working when Dr. Jerrold Post's class assignment changed his life: shadow your boss for a week and write his psychological profile. Kiriakou's boss was a mean old-school organizer whose back had been broken by scabs; halfway through the week Kiriakou called him a racist ("which he was"), and the resulting paper diagnosed the man as a sociopath and potentially dangerous. The paper is what put Kiriakou on the CIA's radar.*

- **What:** Major U.S. labor union, international headquarters on K Street, Washington
- **Kiriakou's job:** Worked there while studying under Dr. Jerrold Post at GW
- **The assignment:** Shadow your boss for a week; write his psychological profile
- **The verdict:** Sociopath, potentially dangerous, the paper that led to the CIA

The **United Food and Commercial Workers** (**UFCW**), at the time, by Kiriakou's account, the biggest union within the AFL-CIO, was [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s employer at the moment his life bent toward the [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia).[1]

## The job

Kiriakou worked at the UFCW's international headquarters on K Street in Washington while studying Middle Eastern affairs at George Washington University, a natural berth for a man with *"a long history of labor involvement in my family."*[2][3] The post itself was junior: he has described himself as *"just an intern working for a polling unit that they had,"* a unit that ran public opinion polls for other AFL-CIO member unions.[4]

## The assignment

In [Dr. Jerrold Post](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jerome-post)'s class on the psychology of leadership, students were assigned to shadow their bosses for a week and write a psychological profile.[5][1] Kiriakou's boss frightened him a little: an old-time tough-guy union organizer, rough and mean, whose back had been broken by scabs during a strike at a previous job with a garment workers' union.[6][7][8][9] What frightened him were outbursts of temper, and of violence.[10]

Halfway through the week they got into a serious argument, and Kiriakou called him a racist, *"which he was."* The man balled up his fists and took a stance.[11][12][9]

What happened next was not a punch. With both men squared up, Kiriakou putting his hands up and thinking *"dang it, I went too far this time"*, the boss instead said, twice, *"my penis is bigger than yours."* Kiriakou's reply was that he was crazy, and he quit and walked out on the spot, having concluded the man was dangerous. He wrote the paper immediately afterwards.[13][14][15]

## The paper and its consequence

The paper Kiriakou turned in concluded that his boss was a sociopath, with psychopathic and possibly violent tendencies, and potentially dangerous, with evidence to support it; Kiriakou stresses that he footnoted the whole thing, so that it read as analysis rather than as him venting.[2][13][15] His own reading of why it worked is that the analysis was concise, to the point, and backed with facts.[14][2]

It came back a week later with an A and a note in the margin. In one telling the note read: *"I've never done this before, but I urge you to quit this job. I agree with your assessment that he's a sociopath, and possibly a psychopath, and I think you should quit."*[16] In others the margin carried the four words that mattered more, *"please see me after class."*[17][15] By the time the advice to quit arrived, Kiriakou had already quit, a week earlier.[17]

In the office afterwards, with the door closed, Post told him what the class had really been for: *"I'm actually undercover as a professor here. I'm a senior CIA officer acting as a spotter looking for grad students who I think would fit into the CIA's culture."*[17][15] Post, who, Kiriakou later learned, had founded the [CIA's political psychology division](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-political-psychology-division), had taken notice. The union job ended; the intelligence career began.

## See also

- [Jerrold Post](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jerome-post)
- [CIA political psychology division](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-political-psychology-division)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. Most Hated CIA Spy on Hunting Osama & INSANE Covert Disguises (Episode 249) (2024-11-07), at 25:24. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_FDZozJ9zE&t=1524s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-11-07-julian-dorey-249/
2. The Real News Network (2015-04-17), at 01:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mabclbi5Dp4&t=77s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-04-17-the-real-news-network-the-real-news-network/
3. David Gornoski Archives (2019-08-08), at 04:48. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFotqzActGI&t=288s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-08-08-david-gornoski-archives-david-gornoski-archives/
4. The Sharin Hour 1/11/16: JOHN KIRIAKOU, ex-C.I.A. (2016-01-12), at 01:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss4dc75908&t=98s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2016-01-12-the-sharin-hour-the-sharin-hour-1-11-16-john-kiriakou-ex-c-i/
5. John Kiriakou - CIA Spy Recounts Insane Covert Operations and Assassination Attempts (Part 1) (2023-11-12), at 11:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1kOwRMd3o8&t=700s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-12-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-1/
6. An Interview With John Kiriakou (CIA Whistleblower On Th (2022-07-23), at 04:10. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULlvbl5ym8E&t=250s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-07-23-the-darkened-hour/
7. CIA EXPOSED: Whistleblower Reveals Torture Secrets with Jo (2024-07-30), at 08:47. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnq27oguBTQ&t=527s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-07-30-spartan-leadership-podcast/
8. Most Hated CIA Spy on Hunting Osama & INSANE Covert Disguises (Episode 249) (2024-11-07), at 25:55. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_FDZozJ9zE&t=1555s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-11-07-julian-dorey-249/
9. Jailing the Messenger The CIA's Torture Whistleblower (2021-09-08), at 04:45. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud02b3c7e5&t=285s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-09-08-primary-sources-jailing-the-messenger-the-cia-s-torture-whist/
10. John Kiriakou: A Whistleblower on Torture (2015-12-11), at 08:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss30914fb8&t=489s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-12-11-scheer-intelligence-john-kiriakou-a-whistleblower-on-torture/
11. EXCLUSIVO: Parceria Lava Jato-EUA foi movida por ódio e dinh (2021-11-21), at 02:53. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6YVXC1HGsw&t=173s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-11-21-dcm-tv-exclusivo-parceria-lava-jato-eua-foi-movida-p/
12. Kiriakou on the CIA, Obama vs Trump (2019-10-03), at 01:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6eXin4Blys&t=95s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-10-03-kiriakou-on-the-cia-obama-vs-trump/
13. Voxera Production Official (2026-07-08), at 17:01. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9egQ2hYdjE&t=1021s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-08-voxera-production-official-voxera-production-official/
14. Voxera Production Official (2026-07-08), at 18:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9egQ2hYdjE&t=1113s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-08-voxera-production-official-voxera-production-official/
15. Jailing the Messenger The CIA's Torture Whistleblower (2021-09-08), at 05:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud02b3c7e5&t=317s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-09-08-primary-sources-jailing-the-messenger-the-cia-s-torture-whist/
16. The Sharin Hour 1/11/16: JOHN KIRIAKOU, ex-C.I.A. (2016-01-12), at 02:08. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss4dc75908&t=128s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2016-01-12-the-sharin-hour-the-sharin-hour-1-11-16-john-kiriakou-ex-c-i/
17. John Kiriakou: A Whistleblower on Torture (2015-12-11), at 08:44. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss30914fb8&t=524s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-12-11-scheer-intelligence-john-kiriakou-a-whistleblower-on-torture/

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