This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von

Podbit · This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von

#661 - John Kiriakou

Explore episode Jun 5, 2026
Government
CIA's Torture Program: $108M and Two Psychologists

#661 - John Kiriakou · Jun 5, 2026 Government

The CIA had zero trained interrogators when they started catching al-Qaeda suspects after 9/11. They handed the job to two contract psychologists — James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen — who invented waterboarding, prolonged sleep deprivation, the naked cold cell, and rectal feeding with hummus. Taxpayers paid them $108 million. Neither has ever been charged with a crime.

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