Former CIA agent to share views of War on Terror, controversy

John Kiriakou, a 14-year veteran operative of the Central Intelligence Agency, will share his views on the CIA’s War on Terrorism today in the Indiana Memorial Union.

Kiriakou, who co-authored the book “The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA’s War on Terror”, worked for the Agency as a senior operations officer from 1990 to 2004.

He led a team that successfully captured Abu Zubaydah, a senior member of Al-Qaeda, in 2004 during a exhaustive mission in Pakistan.

Kiriakou was caught in a controversy after he admitted in a 2007 interview on ABC News that the CIA had used waterboarding as a means to interrogate terrorists.

But in his book released early this year, he acknowledged that he was not sure if waterboarding was involved in the interrogation of Zubaydah, because he was not there.

Since stepping down from the CIA, Kiriakou has worked in several industries, and now he is a senior staff member on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Kiriakou has also appeared as a guest expert on many public affairs shows and given his view on counterterrorism in the Middle East and other interrogation issues.

Kiriakou will discuss the issues at 7 p.m. today in Alumni Hall.

— Kevin Wang