Cdf 2026 Fireside Chat - John Kiriakou

Join us at the Cyprus Diaspora Forum 2026 for a compelling fireside chat that goes deep inside the world of intelligence, counterterrorism, and whistleblowing, offering a rare and unfiltered perspective on global security, power, and accountability.

The discussion features a former journalist, CIA counterterrorism officer, and senior investigator for the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who also served as a counterterrorism consultant for ABC News. His career placed him at the centre of some of the most consequential security operations of the post-9/11 era, including involvement in the 2002 capture in Pakistan of Abu Zubaydah—then believed to be a senior figure within Al-Qaeda.

In 2007, he became a whistleblower after publicly exposing the CIA’s interrogation programme, asserting that the use of torture had become official US government policy authorised at the highest level. His disclosures made international headlines and ultimately led to his prosecution under the Espionage Act during the Obama administration—becoming the sixth whistleblower ever charged under the legislation. He subsequently served 23 months in prison.

Since then, he has become a prolific author, publishing eight books exploring intelligence, secrecy, geopolitics, and survival, including The Reluctant Spy, Doing Time Like a Spy, The Convenient Terrorist, and The CIA Insider’s Guide to the Iran Crisis.

This fireside chat will explore the intersection of intelligence, ethics, accountability, and the personal cost of speaking truth to power in the world of global security.

The fireside chat is moderated by Philip Ammerman.