From Mother Jones
By Laura Rozen

John Kiriakou called it hypocritical for the White House and Congress to point fingers at the CIA for its harsh interrogation techniques. Now his former employer, with the help of the Justice Department, is trying to shut him up.

When spies speak, they often draw trouble.

After news broke earlier this month that the CIA had destroyed video tapes showing agency operatives using harsh techniques to interrogate two terrorism suspects (among them Abu Zubaida), John Kiriakou decided it was time to step out from the shadows. Speaking to ABC News, among other news outlets, the 14-year veteran of the CIA, who retired in 2004, said he had been part of the team that interrogated Zubaida after his March 2002 capture in Pakistan. According to Kiriakou’s account, Zubaida broke after being waterboarded for 35 seconds, providing information that “probably saved lives.”

Though he did not personally use the controversial interrogation technique on the detainee, Kiriakou said he believed at the time that it had been effective in getting the Al Qaeda suspect to talk. He since has come to have his doubts about the use of waterboarding. “Like a lot of Americans, I’m involved in this internal, intellectual battle with myself weighing the idea that waterboarding may be torture versus the quality of information that we often get after using the waterboarding technique,” he told ABC News. “And I struggle with it.”

After Kiriakou became one of the first CIA officials to publicly discuss details of the agency’s rough treatment of Zubaida, the Department of Justice, according to McClatchy’s Jonathan Landay, this week opened a criminal investigation into whether Kiriakou had disclosed classified information (the case was referred to the department by the CIA). It could be that the feds are attempting to stifle further disclosures by Kiriakou, who has retained prominent whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid. While Zaid plays down the investigation, calling it “perfectly expected and routine,” it’s quite likely that Kiriakou would have had more to say, in part as a result of where he served in the agency. Not only in Pakistan, but back at Langley, Kiriakou was in a position to know about important debates inside the CIA, regarding interrogation techniques and other high-level matters.

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