John Kiriakou

An explosive investigation into how America’s longest wars created a threat from within by flooding the U. S. military with extremists now fueling MAGA, domestic terror, and the global far right. In this new edition of Irregular Army, investigative journalist Matt Kennard delivers a searing exposé of how the U. S. military’s recruitment crisis during the War on Terror opened the ranks to some of the most dangerous elements in American society—white supremacists, neo-Nazis, gang members, and convicted criminals. This updated edition deepens the original’s urgent warning, connecting those recruitment policies directly to the rise of MAGA extremism, Trumpism, and the global resurgence of fascism. Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting and interviews with extremist veterans and military insiders, Kennard reveals how the Pentagon knowingly empowered violent ideologues in its desperation to staff the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now back on American soil—and in some cases in positions of power—many of these veterans see their mission continuing through race war fantasies, far-right organizing, and criminal enterprises. With chilling clarity, Irregular Army links the War on Terror’s domestic fallout to the January 6 insurrection, the militarization of MAGA politics, and the broader threats of global instability. As Trump returns to the White House and the Pentagon edges further right, Kennard’s book is an essential account of how American imperial violence abroad is fueling authoritarian danger at home—and around the world.

Every grave sells a story and in Washington, DC, the stories are monumental. From Civil War generals to queer activists, infamous socialites to pioneering inventors, the historic cemeteries of Washington, DC are home to the colorful lives--and complicated legacies--of the people who shaped the nation's capital. In Remains of the Day, former CIA officer turned historian John C. Kiriakou takes readers on a compelling and unconventional tour through the burial grounds of the District, revealing fascinating biographical sketches and forgotten chapters of American history. With rich detail and wry insight, Kiriakou explores the architecture, symbolism, and secret histories hidden among tombstones, mausoleums, and cenotaphs. Whether it's the grave of a disgraced French prime minister, the final resting place of Robert F. Kennedy's campaign manager, or the haunting epitaph of a defiant LGBTQ veteran, these pages chronicle a city of the dead that tells us more about the living than any official monument. Part guidebook, part biography, and part social history, Remains of the Day is an unforgettable celebration of the people--famous and obscure, beloved and reviled--who made Washington what it is today. Essential for history buffs, tourists, genealogists, and anyone who's ever wandered a cemetery and wondered, "What happened here?"

Have you ever thought you were being followed or watched? Have you ever needed to follow or observe someone and not be seen? In the world of espionage, surveillance and surveillance detection are a way of life. It is the job of every CIA operations officer to make sure he or she is not under surveillance—that is, being followed to the commission of an “operational act.” It is also the job of every CIA operations officer to surveil his own targets, whether they are terrorists or terrorist suspects, foreign intelligence officers, hostile actors, or even sometimes his own agents for vetting purposes. In everyday life, many people from all walks of life need to know how to perform similar operations. Whether avoiding a stalker, checking up on an unfaithful partner, or just securing one’s own privacy, a working knowledge of modern surveillance and surveillance detection techniques is a critical skill to possess. And there is nobody better to teach that skill than someone trained by the CIA. From former CIA counterterrorism officer John C. Kiriakou, Surveillance and Surveillance Detection: A CIA Insider's Guide takes you through the CIA's surveillance and surveillance detection program. It will teach you to apply CIA surveillance techniques to your own everyday life. You’ll learn how to stay safe, to ensure your privacy, and to keep the honest people honest—the CIA way.

A foolproof guide both to lying and to detecting deception,Lying and Lie Detection: A CIA Insider's Guide will teach you how the pros can tell if and when somebody is lying. People lie all the time. Studies show that the average American lies between six and twenty times a day. Most lies are of the “little white” variety or are meant to spare a person’s feelings. But what about the big lies? What about the consequential ones? You have a right to know when somebody is lying to you. Now, imagine if you had the tools to spot a lie from the truth—a guide to perfect your sixth sense. Whether it's finding out if you truly got the job, unmasking an infidelity, or a simple recommendation, you will no longer have to spend hours, days, or even weeks pondering about it. Through the easy-to-follow instructions and professional anecdotes in Lying and Lie Detection: A CIA Insider's Guide, you’ll learn to lie and spot lies from John Kiriakou, a former CIA counterterrorism officer and senior investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee responsible for the capture of Abu Zubaydah. Remember, CIA operations officers are trained to lie. They lie all the time. When they are working undercover, they are actually living a lie. With the CIA as a teacher, you’ll learn how to tell.

With an experienced CIA officer as your teacher, you’ll gain the knowledge and necessary tools to protect yourself and the ones you love. No matter where we go, we leave tracks and clues of our existence without even knowing. Our electronic footprint becomes our invisible trail. In this day in age where the world seems to be at our fingertips and social media plays a huge role in our daily lives, it’s hard not to leave part of our digital selves for others to find. Whether you’re fascinated by the idea of disappearing, want to erase your digital footprint, or simply concerned about your safety and privacy, knowing how to become invisible is a survival skill that will come in handy. Through the easy-to-follow instructions, tips, tricks, and professional anecdotes in How to Disappear and Live off the Grid: A CIA Insider's Guide, you’ll learn to vanish without a trace from John Kiriakou, a former CIA counterterrorism officer and senior investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee responsible for the capture of Abu Zubaydah.

Why did the CIA overthrow Iran's democratically elected government? And why has the United States treated Iran as one of its biggest enemies for four decades? Is the Trump administration’s “Maximum Pressure” campaign working, or will it precipitate a war with Iran? In The CIA Insider's Guide to Iran: from CIA Coup to the Brink of War, former CIA Officer John C. Kiriakou and investigative journalist and historian Gareth Porter explain how and why the United States and Iran have been either at war or threatening such a war for most of the forty years since Islamic Republic of Iran was established. The authors delve below the surface explanations for the forty-year history of extreme U. S. hostility toward Iran to blow up one official U. S. narrative after another about Iran and U. S. policy. Against the background of Iran’s encounters with heavy-handed British and Russian imperialist control over its resources, this book shows how the U. S. began its encounter with Iran by clearly siding with British imperialism against Iranian aspirations for control over its oil in its 1953 overthrow of the Mossadegh government, then proceeded to actively support the Saddam Hussein regime’s horrific chemical war against Iran. The book shows how a parade of politically-motivated false narratives have taken U. S. Iran policy progressively farther from reality for three decades and have now brought the United States to the brink of war with Iran. It explains how Donald Trump’s trashing of the nuclear deal with Iran and seeking to cut off Iran’s oil exports creates a very high risk of such a war, demanding major public debate about changing course. The CIA Insider's Guide to the Iran Crisis also includes appendices with key official documents on U. S. policy toward Iran, with particular emphasis on the major official statements of the Trump administration’s “Maximum Pressure” strategy.

A startling spotlight on the darkest corners of America’s ? War on Terror,” where nothing is quite what it seems. The Convenient Terrorist is the definitive inside account of the capture, torture, and detention of Abu Zubaydah, the first ?high-value target” captured by the CIA after 9/11. But was Abu Zubaydah, who is still being indefinitely held by the United States under shadowy circumstances, the blue-ribbon capture that the Bush White House claimed he was? Authors John Kiriakou, who led the capture of Zubaydah, and Joseph Hickman, who took custody of him at Guantanamo, draw a far more complex and intriguing portrait of the al-Qaeda ?mastermind” who became a symbol of torture and the ?dark side” of US security. From a one-time American collaborator to a poster boy for waterboarding, Abu Zubaydah became a ?convenient terrorist”?a way for US authorities to sell their ? War on Terror” to the American people.