Podcast
John Kiriakou's Dead Drop
Hosted by John Kiriakou & Alan Katz · EN
Join ex-CIA officer John Kiriakou on a very personal deep dive into what makes a spy tick. One of the most famous spies in the whole world, John - a spy with a conscience - blew the whistle on the CIA's torture program after the war on terror and spent 23 months in federal prison for it. As John explains, no spy is ever an "ex-spy". Why is that so? Listen to the podcast and you'll understand why.
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14episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
S2E7 Letters From Loretto
3d ago00:27:48Summary readyTHE BLURB: John arrived at Loretto Federal Prison having promised to write about his experiences for various independent news media outlets. He had no idea just how powerful that connection - John's prison experiences and the news media - would prove. In this episode, John tells the story of how his prison blog - "Letters From Loretto" - became a national sensation and an ever-more-damning indictment of the corruption inside our prisons and prison system. SHOW NOTESFor more great podcasts, visit us at Costard & Touchstone. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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S2E6 Use Your Words
1w ago00:28:10Summary readyTHE BLURB: Already a succesful, best-selling author when the CIA put John in prison, he quickly realized that his writing - his words - were going to be his super power. John wasn't worried about his fellow prisoners; his training as a spy gave him advantages over them. But the prison authorities - corrupt to their marrow - did pose problems to John. Until they realized just how much of a super power John's writing was. Turns out, the pen is mightier than the sword and the corrupt federal prison system. SHOW NOTESFor more great podcasts, please visit Costard & Touchstone. Your next favorite podcast is just a click away! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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S2E5 The Abyss
2w ago00:47:06Summary readyTHE BLURB: Frederich Nietsche warned us about staring into the abyss and becoming the monster we most feared. He could have been talking about being in prison. Or being a spy. In this episode, John tells how he increasingly relied on the rules of spying to navitage prison life. But, in becoming a monster in order to survive, the question becomes: when John's sentence ends, will he be able to separate himself from the monster - or will the monster he had to become follow him into the outside worldl?SHOW NOTESIf you're enjoying Dead Drop, please check out our other podcasts at Costard & Touchstone! Your next podcast binge is just a click away! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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S2E4 With Friends Like These
3w ago00:32:36Summary readyTHE BLURB: While, on the one hand prison is NOT the place you go to make friends, once you're there, you need to have (and be able to rely on) a tight circle of friends just to survive. In the last episode, John introduced you to some of that tight circle. In this episode, John dives a little deeper into those relationships plus a few others that were essential parts of his prison experience. But, you can't befriend killers, conmen and pathological liars without having your own humanity ding-ed. John begins to grow oblivious of how dead-eyed he's becoming.SHOW NOTESIf you enjoy this podcast, please check out everything else we're doing at Costard & Touchstone Productions. Your next great podcast addiction might be just a click away! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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S2E3 Circle Of Friends
Jun 100:59:59Summary readyTHE BLURB: In prison, nobody helps anybody. Except their friends. In this episode, John will introduce you to his circle of friends, some of whom remained his friend long after they all got out of prison. Relationships that would probably never have happened except for prison can become some of the most profound, satisfying relationships one has. As you'lll hear... SHOW NOTESIf you enjoy this podcast, please check out our other podcasts at Coastard & Touchstone. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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S2E2 Rules Of The Game
May 2500:35:25Summary readyTHE BLURB: One thing about prison, there are rules upon rules. Upon rules. In this episode, John realizes that he's going to have to live by his own rules in order to survive. Those rules will be entirely based on the rules John learned - and had to live by - as a spy. As John keeps learning, there's an amazing amount of similarity between living life as a federal prisoner and living life as a spy.SHOW NOTESIf you are enjoying Dead Drop, please check out our other podcasts at Costard & Touchstone. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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S2E1 Welcome To Loretto
May 1800:30:52Summary readyTHE BLURB: In season one, we told the story of how CIA counter terrorism officer John Kiriakou chose to tell ABC journalist Jonathan Ross the truth - that the CIA had tortured and waterboarded detainees like Abu Zubaydah. The CIA went on the warpath against John, finally forcing him to accept a plea deal of thirty months reducible to 23 months in federal prison. In season two, John arrives at Loretto Federal Prison and enters a world unlike anything he'd ever encountered before. Though John had expected to serve his sentence at a "Club Fed" style work camp, the Bureau of Prisons chose instead to put John in a more prison-like prison with drug dealers, mafiosi and child molesters. Every bit of John's training as a spy would serve him well as a prisoner.SHOW NOTESIf you are enjoying Dead Drop, please check out our other podcasts at Costard & Touchstone. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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S1E27 Prisoner Ex
May 1100:36:08Summary readyTHE BLURB: Having been a prisoner despite not deserving that fate, John is extremely interested in others similarly incarcerated. To that end, back before the 2024 election, we put together an episode of a podcast called "Prisoner Ex" where we told the story of Donnie Reynolds, Jr, a young, ambitious Black entrepreneur who got swept up in the US government's failed attempt to catch and prosecute Mexican drug cartel leaders by supplying them with GPS-carrying firearms. Donnie and his whole family were law-abiding citizens going about their business before the DoJ's so-called "Operation Fast and Furious" forced itself into their homes and lives. SHOW NOTESIf you want to help Donnie Reynolds, Jr (and we urge you to join us in helping him), please send him a letter telling him you support him. Please address the enverlope this way: Donald Ray Reynolds, JrPrisoner Number 32349-074, FCI Cumberland14601 Burbridge Road SE Cumberland, MD 21502For more great podcasts like Dead Drop, please visit https://costardandtouchstone.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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S1E26 Did John Le Carre Invent The Modern Spy?
May 401:08:14Summary readyTHE BLURB: In this episode, we ask a question: did author and ex-spy John Le Carre invent the modern spy by channeling his experiences as a Cold War spy into novels like "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold", "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", "The Night Manager, The Constant Gardner, Russia House and The Little Drummer Girl? What about real spies did le Carre capture that makes real spies respond to his fictional spies - and then imitate them and their language? We'll also talk shop about writing and the many challenges of repurposing a life in espionage as art.SHOW NOTESFor more information about Barry Eisler, visit barryeisler.com.For more information about Glenn Carle, visitFor more great podcasts like Dead Drop, please visit https://costardandtouchstone.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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S1E25 The Whistleblower
Apr 2700:51:41Summary readyTHE BLURB: As John's date with prison looms, he begins prepping - financially and mentally. In the end, John's plea deal would put him inside for 30 months reduceable to 23. At least it would be in a relatively benign, low security work camp setting. That was what the prosecution agreed to! Meanwhile, public opinion about John begins to shift; They go from seeing him as a pariah to a whistleblower - and an American hero. Still, prison is prison and John approaches his sentence more and more like a mission to continue speaking the truth, damn the consequences.SHOW NOTESFor more great podcasts like Dead Drop, please visit https://costardandtouchstone.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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