# Washington, rat central > **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: "Washington, rat central," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/washington-rat-city/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *John Kiriakou's account of the rat population of Washington, D.C. — one he saw the size of a small dog, and the night he drove to Southeast Washington at quarter to two in the morning to collect two eighteen-year-olds whose van had been stolen, and found them panicking not about the theft but about the rats eating a sleeping homeless man's toes.* - **Kiriakou's ranking:** Second only to New York - **Largest he has seen:** "The size of a small dog" - **The call:** 1 a.m., from a friend of his father - **The pickup:** Southeast Washington, about 1:45 a.m. - **What frightened the boys:** Rats eating a sleeping homeless man's toes **Washington, rat central** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s description of the American capital's rat problem, offered as the counterpart to [the cats of Athens](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-cats-of-athens). ## The ranking *"And here in Washington, we're second only to New York,"* Kiriakou said, invoking the films *Willard* and *Ben* from his and his host's childhood: *"That's We're living it now."*[1] On size he was emphatic. *"The the places are overrun with rats. And I mean, they're big. I saw one the other day. I'm telling you, without any exaggeration, this thing was the size of a small dog. Never in my life ever have I seen a rat this big."*[2] ## The one o'clock call Kiriakou then told a story he says happened days earlier. Unable to sleep — *"cuz I'm old and I guess this is like life from now on"* — he was sitting up watching television at one in the morning when a friend of his father called.[2] The friend's son and a companion were stranded in Washington. They had gone into a 7-Eleven; someone got into their van and stole it, with the luggage, passports and laptops inside. *"Everything. They have nothing."*[3] Kiriakou asked where they were, and reacted to the address: *"What in the world would they do in that part of town? Like, I wouldn't go to that part of town in the daytime."* The explanation was that they had booked the cheapest hotel on a booking site — *"Yeah, well, it's the reason it's the cheapest hotel."*[3][4] He said he would be there in thirty minutes, and arrived in Southeast Washington at about 1:45 a.m.[4] ## What they were actually frightened of The two were eighteen and panicked, and Kiriakou assumed he knew why. *"I thought they were panicked because they just had all their [expletive] stolen. They're in a terrible part of town. That was not why they were panicked. They were panicked because while they were waiting for me, they noticed a homeless guy sleeping on the ground and rats were eating his toes."*[5] His answer to them: *"Yeah. Welcome to Washington. We are rat central these days, and I don't know why nobody wants to do anything about it."* They told him they had never seen anything like it and never wanted to come back. *"I was like, Well, yeah, exactly."*[5][6] ## See also - [The cats of Athens](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-cats-of-athens) - [The Parthenon-view condo](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-parthenon-view-condo) ## Sources 1. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “France In Crisis” (2025-09-08), at 39:45. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDOspNoh9IA&t=2385s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-08-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-fra/ 2. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “France In Crisis” (2025-09-08), at 40:16. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDOspNoh9IA&t=2416s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-08-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-fra/ 3. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “France In Crisis” (2025-09-08), at 40:47. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDOspNoh9IA&t=2447s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-08-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-fra/ 4. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “France In Crisis” (2025-09-08), at 41:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDOspNoh9IA&t=2477s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-08-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-fra/ 5. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “France In Crisis” (2025-09-08), at 41:49. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDOspNoh9IA&t=2509s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-08-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-fra/ 6. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “France In Crisis” (2025-09-08), at 42:19. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDOspNoh9IA&t=2539s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-08-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-fra/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/washington-rat-city/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt