John Kiriakou has opened up about the “very odd way” he first entered the CIA, suggesting the approach likely wouldn’t be considered “legal” by today’s standards.
The United States Central Intelligence Agency was created in September 1947 during the administration of President Harry S. Truman.
Formed to succeed the wartime Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the short-lived Central Intelligence Group (CIG), the CIA has been linked to a wide range of notable moments and initiatives over the decades—from advances like the first functional lithium-iodine battery, to Cold War intelligence-gathering such as the Berlin Tunnel operation, and the mission that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011.
Kiriakou joined the agency in the 1980s. In later years, he oversaw military raids targeting al-Qaeda safehouses in Pakistan, efforts that reportedly led to the capture of dozens of fighters.
More than two decades after leaving the CIA, the Pennsylvania native revisited the unusual circumstances that first put him on the agency’s radar.
In an interview as part of the Minutes With series, the 61-year-old explained that he was a graduate student in Washington, DC in the late 1980s, enrolled in a class titled “the Psychology of Leadership”.
The course was taught by Dr Jerrold Post, a former CIA analyst and the founder of the Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior.
According to Kiriakou, Post assigned students a task: observe their bosses closely and return with a written “psychological evaluation”.
Kiriakou said his own boss wasn’t easy to analyze—or to work for—describing him as “difficult” and also “unpleasant, strong, and brutish”.
After completing the observation, he wrote up the assignment at his apartment and turned it in.
“I said that [his boss] was a sociopath with psychopathic and possibly violent tendencies. I gave Dr Post the paper, and a week later, he gave it back to me and he gave me an A.”
He claimed that beneath the grade, Post—who died in November 2020 aged 86—had left a note asking to speak after class.
Kiriakou said he then met Post in his office, where the instructor allegedly revealed the real reason for the conversation.
It allegedly saw the author stating: “Look, I’m not really a professor here. I’m a CIA officer, undercover as a professor here and I’m looking for people who would fit into the CIA’s culture.”
Post reportedly told him he “would fit in” perfectly for the work. Kiriakou would later receive a 30-month prison sentence for passing classified information about the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program to a reporter.
Dr Post then asked him: “Do you want to be a CIA officer?”
Kiriakou said he accepted the offer immediately.
“He made some calls, it was up to me to pass all the tests and there were a lot of tests, but that’s how I got into the CIA.”
Today, a recruitment scenario involving an undercover officer posing as a graduate professor seems far less likely.
For those aiming to join the CIA now—perhaps even hoping to one day earn a CIA Trailblazers award—the safer assumption is that the process begins with applying through official channels.
The agency’s website indicates that after submitting a resume, candidates may be screened, tested, and interviewed.
Applicants who clear those steps can receive a Conditional Offer of Employment (COE) and must complete additional paperwork.
The final stage requires candidates to “successfully complete security and medical evaluations as part of the clearance process”.
After that, those selected are issued a formal offer along with onboarding details.
Not everyone is eligible to apply, however, as the CIA lists baseline requirements that must be met before a person is considered.
These include being a US citizen (or dual-national US citizen), being at least 18 years old, and being willing to relocate to the Washington, DC area, according to the agency’s website.