John Kiriakou “Doing Time Like a Spy: How the CIA Taught Me to Survive and Thrive in Prison”
Date and Time
Oct 19, 2026 6:00 pm
Location
450K
450 K St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20001
Oct 19, 2026 6:00 pm
450K
On February 28, 2013, after pleading guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, John Kiriakou began serving a thirty month prison sentence. His crime: blowing the whistle on the CIA's use of torture on al Qaeda prisoners.
Doing Time Like a Spy is Kiriakou's memoir of his twenty-three months in prison. Using twenty life skills he learned in CIA operational training, he was able to keep himself safe and at the top of the prison social heap. Including his award-winning blog series "Letters from Loretto," Doing Time Like a Spy is at once a searing journal of daily prison life and an alternately funny and heartbreaking commentary on the federal prison system.
John Kiriakou is joining us on the Busboys stage to discuss his 23 months in federal prison, sharing lessons on survival, resilience, and life behind bars after exposing the CIA’s use of torture.Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Kiriakou will be signing following the program.
This event is free and open to all. Doors open to guests at 5:30pm. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of "Doing Time Like a Spy: How the CIA Taught Me to Survive and Thrive in Prison" will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
