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In a revealing interview on the Dalton Fischer Podcast, former CIA counterterrorism officer John Kiriakou pulled back the curtain on the shadowy realm of private military companies (PMCs) and private intelligence operations. With 15 years at the agency—including serving as Chief of Counterterrorism Operations in Pakistan after 9/11—Kiriakou offers an insider’s perspective on how governments and corporations have increasingly outsourced warfare, espionage, and risk assessment to profit-driven entities.
### The Post-9/11 Explosion of Private Contractors
Following the September 11 attacks, the CIA faced unprecedented demands and massive budgets. According to Kiriakou, the agency turned heavily to contractors to maintain plausible deniability and scale operations quickly. Companies like Blackwater (now known as Academi) became central players. Founder Eric Prince allegedly pitched comprehensive services—including assassination squads, intelligence interceptors, and ground forces—securing billions in contracts with minimal oversight.
These firms often operated as quasi-CIA extensions. Boards and leadership teams were stacked with agency veterans, such as Cofer Black, the former head of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center. While not officially part of the government, these organizations employed former operatives who brought institutional knowledge and networks, allowing them to execute sensitive missions while providing the government with layers of separation.
### Accountability and Control Challenges
Kiriakou highlights a fundamental problem: once operations are outsourced, full control becomes nearly impossible. Contractors are not government employees, creating significant risks of rogue actions, scandals, and unintended consequences. High-profile incidents involving Blackwater in Iraq underscored these dangers, damaging U.S. credibility and sparking public outrage.
He specifically references a controversial global assassination program linked to Blackwater that was reportedly shut down by then-CIA Director Leon Panetta. The exposure of these activities, including during congressional testimony, contributed to Prince’s relocation to Dubai, further illustrating the blurred lines between state and private power.
### Life After the Agency: Running a Private Intelligence Firm
After leaving the CIA and a period on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kiriakou himself entered the private intelligence sector. He emphasizes that legitimate private intelligence work differs sharply from government operations. It relies exclusively on open-source information, legal surveillance, and publicly available data—no classified material is used.
Kiriakou shares colorful examples from his own practice:
– A billionaire client hired him to investigate his daughter’s Greek fiancé. Through bribery of officials, physical surveillance, and tools like Google Earth, the team uncovered evidence of infidelity, theft, drug smuggling, and deception—preventing the marriage.
– Corporate clients, including hedge funds and resource extraction companies, sought targeted analysis on political risks. One project involved predicting Romanian election outcomes to assess the viability of purchasing a silver mine located under a village. Another required evaluating security threats at an Omani oil field near al-Qaeda territory, where Kiriakou directly consulted Omani officials.
He notes that private analysis can be “more fun” than government work, leveraging modern tools like LinkedIn for local polling data and networks to deliver actionable business intelligence on politics, resources, and security.
### Aggressive Players and the Broader Trend
Kiriakou points to firms like Black Cube—staffed by former Israeli Mossad operatives—as examples of more aggressive private intelligence operations that operate with fewer legal constraints. The overall trend reflects a broader privatization of national security functions. PMCs now provide everything from personal security and training to logistics and, in some cases, direct combat support for governments, corporations, and wealthy individuals.
**Advantages** include rapid deployment, specialized expertise, and scalability without the bureaucratic hurdles of traditional military or intelligence agencies.
**Disadvantages** are equally significant: profit motives can override national interests, oversight is limited, and accountability remains elusive. As Kiriakou asks pointedly, “How do you control people who don’t actually work for you? You can’t.”
### A Persistent Feature of Modern Geopolitics
The rise of private armies and intelligence firms represents one of the most significant—and least transparent—shifts in how power is exercised in the 21st century. Enabled by post-9/11 funding surges and the desire for deniability, this ecosystem continues to thrive in corporate risk management and geopolitical maneuvering alike.
Kiriakou, who later became a whistleblower on the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program and served prison time for his disclosures, brings a unique credibility to these observations. His experiences span both the official agency world and its private shadow, offering rare insight into an industry that operates largely out of public view.
The full interview explores these themes in greater depth, touching on CIA tradecraft, comparisons with agencies like Mossad, and the evolving role of surveillance technology. As conflicts and corporate interests grow more complex, the influence of these private entities is unlikely to diminish.
