# Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

> **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: "Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/veteran-intelligence-professionals-for-sanity/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*A group of former U.S. intelligence officials, of which John Kiriakou is a member, that issues the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence — which Kiriakou arranged to give to whistleblower-adjacent figure Joe Kent.*

- **Abbreviation:** VIPS
- **Awards:** Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence

**Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity** (VIPS) is a group of former U.S. intelligence officials — retired CIA, FBI, NSA and some DOD personnel — of which [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) is a member.[1][2] It confers the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence. Kiriakou recounts that when [Joe Kent](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/joe-kent) went public on intelligence matters, he tracked down Kent's contact information and arranged for VIPS to give him the Sam Adams Award — though, he notes, the two had never spoken.[3][2]

Kiriakou identifies fellow VIPS member Bill Binney as the former number-four official at the NSA, and cites Binney's study concluding that the data downloaded from the DNC server was extracted at a speed no internet connection could achieve remotely, implying a local, not Russian, leak.[4]

## Sam Adams Award to Joe Kent (2026)

[John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) said on the PBD Podcast in April 2026 that when [Joe Kent](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/joe-kent) went public with the identity of the American intelligence figure whose leak scooped the [Iran strike](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-12-day-war), Kiriakou immediately reached out for Kent's contact information and, on behalf of [Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/veteran-intelligence-professionals-for-sanity), presented Kent with the group's Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence — despite the two men never having spoken directly.[5][6]

## The letter to Ecuador (2018)

After Ecuador cut off [Julian Assange](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/julian-assange)'s communications in 2018, VIPS wrote to the Ecuadorian president through the country's embassy in Washington. [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou), who delivered the petitions, says the letter carried *"something like three or four dozen signatures of retired intelligence professionals from CIA, NSA, FBI, Homeland Security and the uniformed military and military intelligence services — so we like to think we're a group of people who know what we're talking about."* The delegation was *"received very warmly"* at the embassy. *"I like to think that the letter had some impact. I'm not sure, but at the very least it didn't hurt."*[7][8]

Four days before Assange was removed from the London embassy, Kiriakou said the group had not yet discussed repeating the exercise but that *"the time is ripe — we need to do it now, like this weekend, immediately,"* and volunteered to take the lead.[9]

## Membership, as Kiriakou describes it

Introducing the group in 2023, Kiriakou described it as co-founded by [Ray McGovern](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ray-mcgovern) and *"made up of retired officials from the CIA, FBI, NSA, the military, and the British MI5 and MI6"* — the last a detail he does not always include.[10]

The occasion was the group's award of its [Sam Adams Award](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sam-adams-award) for integrity in intelligence to [Daniel Hale](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/daniel-hale).[10]

## The founding memo, and the silence after it

[Ray McGovern](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ray-mcgovern) dates the group to January 2003 and describes its first act as a memorandum to President Bush, written on the assumption *"that he didn't know what's going on"* and sent *"the same day as Colin Powell spoke."* Its content was a flat contradiction of the case being made — *"there was dribble that was all made up"* — and a warning that *"if he didn't widen the circle of his advisors beyond those clearly bent on a war, it would be a catastrophe."* McGovern's comment on being vindicated: *"we take no pleasure in the fact that we're right on that."*[11][12]

The memorandum got attention because *"our initial thing went out on the AFP wire. And that's why we got some play. Since then, we've been pretty much shunned."* A later memo to President Obama on Afghanistan — *"Welcome to Vietnam, Mr. Obama, you're letting these generals and these sycophants like Bobby Gates run roughshod over you"* — drew none.[13][14]

## See also

- [Watching naval movements](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/watching-naval-movements)
- [Espionage Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/espionage-act)

## Sources

1. John Kiriakou — Reasons Trump and Allies Decided to Attack Iran (2026-05-07), at 26:26. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY64HUAMZcI&t=1586s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-07-secret-intelligence-report-attack-iran/
2. Does the Charlie Kirk Case Have Evidence Gaps? (2026-05-18), at 20:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zy79qrNm-k&t=1230s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-18-covert-operations-insight/
3. John Kiriakou — Reasons Trump and Allies Decided to Attack Iran (2026-05-07), at 26:57. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY64HUAMZcI&t=1617s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-07-secret-intelligence-report-attack-iran/
4. John Kiriakou on Chelsea Manning’s ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ Mom (2019-04-18), at 28:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahlUdUoayOc&t=1702s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-04-18-scott-horton/
5. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 27:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=1623s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/
6. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 27:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=1655s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/
7. vigil — confirm not panel (2019-04-07), at 36:04. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_C92BT8Fzk&t=2164s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-04-07-unity4j-vigil-confirm-not-panel/
8. vigil — confirm not panel (2019-04-07), at 36:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_C92BT8Fzk&t=2195s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-04-07-unity4j-vigil-confirm-not-panel/
9. vigil — confirm not panel (2019-04-07), at 35:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_C92BT8Fzk&t=2133s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-04-07-unity4j-vigil-confirm-not-panel/
10. Enema of the State (2023-03-05), at 20:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgGxUpHktUU&t=1203s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-03-05-enema-of-the-state-enema-of-the-state/
11. It's scoundrel time in the good ol' USA (2022-05-20), at 12:44. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud8c90fc5bd&t=764s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-05-20-scheer-intelligence-its-scoundrel-time-in-the-good-ol-usa/
12. It's scoundrel time in the good ol' USA (2022-05-20), at 13:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud8c90fc5bd&t=797s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-05-20-scheer-intelligence-its-scoundrel-time-in-the-good-ol-usa/
13. It's scoundrel time in the good ol' USA (2022-05-20), at 13:49. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud8c90fc5bd&t=829s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-05-20-scheer-intelligence-its-scoundrel-time-in-the-good-ol-usa/
14. It's scoundrel time in the good ol' USA (2022-05-20), at 14:24. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud8c90fc5bd&t=864s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-05-20-scheer-intelligence-its-scoundrel-time-in-the-good-ol-usa/

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