CIA Whistleblower: Who Actually Runs the US Government? - John Kiriakou (Video)

In this 8 October 2026 published Modern Wisdom video, host Chris Williamson talks with John Kiriakou, a former CIA counterterrorism officer, intelligence whistleblower, journalist, and author. Expect to learn who’s actually controlling the US government, what John thinks of the new Paramount/Warner Bros. Skydance Merger, why we should be worried about and taking China more seriously, if brainwashing is real in CIA interrogation techniques, the most impressive CIA operations they pulled off, why John plays Angry Birds every morning and more.

Kiriakou argues that career bureaucrats and the permanent intelligence apparatus effectively run the United States government rather than elected officials.

Kiriakou describes a “shadow government” consisting of deep-state administrative and intelligence personnel who outlast changing presidential administrations. Because elected presidents and political appointees come and go every four to eight years, permanent agency directors and senior career staff can quietly stall, ignore, or outlast presidential directives they oppose. Kiriakou contends that legislative oversight committees often fail to hold intelligence agencies accountable, leaving vast budgets and covert operations to run with minimal transparency. Agencies prioritize institutional survival and secrecy above all else, which Kiriakou experienced directly after he publicly confirmed the U.S. government’s post-9/11 waterboarding and torture programs.

According to Kiriakou, power does not truly reside with transient political figures like the President, cabinet secretaries, or the Director of the CIA. Instead, it is held by the unelected, lifelong career bureaucrats positioned just below the top leadership within agencies like the CIA, State Department, and Department of Defense.

While directors and secretaries cycle out with changing political administrations, this sub-cabinet level of career officials remains permanently entrenched. These bureaucrats control the flow of intelligence and operational information. Kiriakou notes that it is common practice within the intelligence community to purposefully withhold disruptive or negative information from Congress or top officials under the guise of “not throwing a wrench into the works”. The permanent bureaucracy operates with its own institutional memory, priorities, and survival mechanisms, making it highly resistant to outside political oversight or reform.

https://youtu.be/wwn5GUgcq80

0:00 Why Should We Believe An Ex-CIA Agent?
0:44 Will John Ever Receive a Presidential Pardon?
3:25 Who Really Controls America?
11:32 Inside the CIA’s Levels of Security
15:26 The CIA’s Most Classified Operations
16:44 Do the CIA Classify Embarrassing Information?
17:54 Could Big Tech Become More Powerful Than the CIA?
20:37 Is the CIA Spying on American Citizens?
25:54 Why We Should Be Worried About China
30:53 How Foreign Spies Infiltrate the US Government
39:50 What Will CIA Whistleblowers Be Leaking in 10 Years?
43:18 Is Mass Surveillance the Price of Safety?
47:51 Is Brainwashing Real?
58:45 The Chicken Farmer Who Brought Down Hitler
01:03:30 Inside Operation Grim Beeper
01:06:03 The Greatest Intelligence Operations Ever
01:11:41 Can America Legally Kidnap Foreign Nationals?
01:17:20 Was 9/11 the Most Complex Intelligence Operation Ever?
01:20:47 The Location and Kidnap of Adolf Eichmann 
01:22:37 The Legendary Capture of Carlos the Jackal
01:27:34 Why Working For the CIA Was So Much Fun
01:29:37 How Mass Persuasion Works at Scale
01:36:58 Does Working For the CIA Make You Paranoid?
01:38:19 How to Spot a Liar
01:46:50 How Interrogators Get People to Tell the Truth
01:54:17 Should Torture Ever Be Legal?
01:59:43 The Most Shocking Interrogation Tactics Used By the CIA
02:07:31 What Really Happens at Guantanamo Bay?
02:08:50 Was Uday Hussein One of the Most Evil Men Ever?
02:15:34 Dominance vs Prestige: What Makes a Better Leader?
02:20:16 Is This America’s First Botched Lethal Injection Execution?
02:28:31 Why John is Obsessed With Angry Birds
02:31:09 Is John a Model Now?
02:32:54 What Everyone Gets Wrong About Intelligence Agencies
02:35:41 Where to Find John