John Kiriakou: Why your metadata makes privacy impossible

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

January 19, 2026

Duration

1h 45m

Channel

The Diary of a CEO

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Former CIA officer and whistleblower JOHN KIRIAKOU reveals how easily you’re tracked, the truth about surveillance, manipulation, and torture, and why exposing the CIA sent him to prison! John Kiriakou is a former CIA counterterrorism officer and intelligence analyst who served for 15 years, including as chief of counterterrorism operations in Pakistan after 9/11. He publicly blew the whistle on the CIA’s torture program, for which he served 23 months in prison. He explains: ◼️How intelligence agencies can monitor your car in real time ◼️The proven psychology the CIA uses to recruit spies ◼️Why he went to prison for exposing the truth, and would do it again ◼️The surveillance mistake that instantly makes you easier to track ◼️Why telling the truth is treated as a national security threat 00:00 Intro 02:50 I Blew the Whistle on the CIA 04:26 What Was Your Role in the CIA? 12:44 How Did You End Up Being a Spy? 15:04 The CIA’s Strategy With Podcasters 17:46 How Did You Get Into the CIA? 23:32 What Was Your Training Like? 27:56 People’s Vulnerabilities 31:30 What Can the CIA Really Get for Someone? 33:17 Lying and Lie Detection 37:52 Do You Often Have to ‘Take One for the Team’ in the CIA? 41:31 What Does the Average Person Not Know About the World? 47:39 Digital Security 52:06 Sleeper Agents: Training Spies From Birth 56:37 Is the Average Person Interacting With a Spy? 58:27 How Many Spies Are There in the US? 01:04:04 Conspiracy Theories 01:05:29 Dosing Americans With LSD 01:08:51 Are the CIA Involved in Iran? 01:11:07 Have You Ever Killed Anyone? 01:15:06 Which Spy Force Is the Most Impressive? 01:21:33 Was Jeffrey Epstein a Spy? 01:26:57 Who Is the Real Adversary? 01:29:12 Is Venezuela a Cover for Something Else? 01:33:22 Does China Want the US to Fall? 01:34:10 Is the US Going Bankrupt? 01:36:15 Why Does the US Government Keep Breaking the Law? 01:40:09 Should You Be Pardoned by Trump? 01:40:48 What Did You Stop Doing That Improved Your Life? Follow John: X - https://bit.ly/4bAFhy4 Instagram - https://bit.ly/4b3GQ7M You can purchase John’s book, Surveillance and Surveillance Detection: A CIA Insider's Guide‘, here: https://amzn.to/4qU7Cnv The Diary Of A CEO: ◼️Join DOAC circle here - https://doaccircle.com/ ◼️Buy The Diary Of A CEO book here - https://smarturl.it/DOACbook ◼️The 1% Diary is back - limited time only: https://bit.ly/3YFbJbt ◼️The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards (Second Edition): https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb ◼️Get email updates - https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt ◼️Follow Steven - https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb Sponsors: Pipedrive - https://pipedrive.com/CEO Intuit - If you want help getting out of the weeds of admin, https://intuitquickbooks.com

🎤 SPEAKERS

• John Kiriakou

  guest

• Steven Bartlett

  host

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Diary of a CEO, featuring John Kiriakou and Steven Bartlett, John Kiriakou: Why your metadata makes privacy impossible explores cIA whistleblower warns on surveillance, ethics, espionage, and modern geopolitics John Kiriakou recounts his 15-year CIA career—starting as an Iraq analyst briefing senior U.S. leaders and later running counterterrorism operations in Pakistan—then explains why he publicly exposed the CIA’s torture program and went to prison.

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