Joe Rogan guest makes explosive claims on Israeli spying

John Kiriakou, a former analyst and officer for Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has made startling allegations about the conduct of Israeli intelligence services toward U.S. agencies. 

During an interview on The Joe Rogan Experience, Kiriakou claimed that agents from Mossad and Shin Bet repeatedly tried to plant listening devices in CIA facilities. He says that early in his career he was instructed to give a liaison briefing to Israeli officers, and that from that point the CIA had “we don’t allow the Israelis into CIA headquarters” because on past visits they would arrive with “gifts” loaded with listening devices and batteries. 

Kiriakou also alleges that during one of those official briefings, an Israeli officer asked him to spell his name, then asked “You are Jewish?” — which according to Kiriakou he interpreted as the start of a recruitment attempt. He says his supervisors confirmed this kind of recruitment effort was commonplace. 

He further recounted that almost upon joining the CIA in 1990, lobbyists with pro-Israel connections approached him offering an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel — which he refused, though he says some of his colleagues accepted. He characterized pro-Israel lobbying as highly effective and unusually pervasive. 

Separately, Kiriakou is well-known for his whistle-blowing on the CIA’s enhanced-interrogation programme. He was charged under the Espionage Act and the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, and in 2013 he was sentenced to 30 months in prison for revealing classified information. 

These claims, if accurate, touch on the sensitive and often hard-to-verify terrain of espionage among allied nations, raising questions about the boundaries of intelligence sharing, recruitment of officers, and internal controls in liaison partnerships.

Source: ISREAL HAYOM