John Kiriakou, a former CIA analyst and case officer turned whistleblower, suggested that when it comes to our devices, “we have to worry” about the methods used by agencies around the world.
A former CIA spy has revealed the disturbing truth about what devices like smartphones are capable of hearing without our knowledge. A common concern for anyone who has ever suspected the uncanny accuracy of targeted ads on their phone, the idea that our devices could be listening to us is no longer limited to the realm of dystopian novels.
John Kiriakou, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst and case officer turned whistleblower, was the first CIA staffer convicted of exposing the shadowy US agency’s enhanced interrogation program.
Speaking to podcast host Steven Bartlett, the whistleblower claimed that when it comes to our devices, “we have to worry” about the clandestine methods used by agencies around the world, and then described how the CIA can “listen to everything.”
During the conversation, the topic turned to digital security and how “forces,” a term used by Steven, had the ability to “hack and crack” our technology, even though many of us “assume our devices are secure.”
John said The Diary of a CEO: “They’re not secure at all. It’s not just the NSA/CIA/FBI you have to worry about; it’s the British, the French, the Germans, the Canadians, the Australians, the New Zealanders, the Russians, the Chinese, the Israelis, the Iranians. Everyone has these capabilities, everyone, so you have to be very, very careful.”
Intercepting our communications is simply the tip of the iceberg, says John, highlighting the so-called “Vault 7 Revelations,” an incident involving a “disgruntled” CIA software engineer who leaked classified documents “above top secret” to WikiLeaks.
He claimed that the CIA can transform your smart TV’s speaker into a microphone, and it doesn’t matter if you turn it off, since “you can still hear everything.” John noted: “You can still hear everything that is said in the room and it is transmitted [it] Back to the CIA.”
He further stated, “When they first hired me (in the 1980s), they were able to do that, it’s old technology. And then the car thing, it was an eye-opener.”
“They can take control, also remotely, of a car’s computer system to kill you. Crash the car, throw it off a bridge, crash it into a tree, of course.”
John, as a CIA employee, was involved in counterterrorism in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, but reportedly refused training in what was called “enhanced interrogation techniques.”
According to the Government Accountability Project, John later alleged that the agency waterboarded detainees; In 2012, he pleaded guilty to violating an intelligence law.
He confessed to leaking the name of a former officer who was allegedly involved in the interrogation of detainees, the BBC reported at the time. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2013.
John served two years in a federal prison in the US state of Pennsylvania and was later released to home release.
