KARACHI: Former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou said he believes the late financier Jeffrey Epstein acted as a foreign intelligence “access agent”, while also warning that surging US defence spending risks pushing the US towards fiscal crisis, in a wide-ranging interview on global security and intelligence practices.
Speaking on the YouTube channel Diary of a CEO, Kiriakou said he was “very confident” that Epstein functioned as an intermediary used by intelligence services to gain proximity to powerful political, corporate and royal figures who would themselves be impossible to recruit directly.
“You don’t recruit a former president or a tech billionaire,” Kiriakou said. “You recruit someone who has regular access to them and make those people feel comfortable and appreciated.”
Kiriakou said Epstein’s wealth, properties and lifestyle were consistent with such a role, arguing that substantial financial resources would have been required to sustain access to elite circles.
He also pointed to reports that Epstein’s private residence in the US Virgin Islands was equipped with hidden cameras, including in bathrooms, suggesting the possible collection of compromising material, often referred to as “kompromat”.
He stressed that he was offering an assessment rather than presenting evidence, but questioned the lenient plea deal Epstein received in 2006 for child sex offences in Florida, when he served a short period of house arrest despite mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines. Kiriakou said the outcome suggested influence beyond that of an ordinary defendant.
The former CIA officer cited remarks attributed to Alexander Acosta, the prosecuting attorney who oversaw the case and later served as labour secretary during Donald Trump’s first term, who reportedly said he had been instructed to offer Epstein the deal.
Kiriakou said this raised questions about political pressure at senior levels, while acknowledging uncertainty over its source. He added that Epstein could also have been “doubled”, acting against the interests of “the Israelis or others”.
Turning to broader geopolitical issues, Kiriakou warned that the United States is on a path to fiscal “oblivion” due to what he described as excessive military spending. He said the Pentagon’s nearly $1 trillion annual budget exceeds the combined defence spending of Washington’s closest rivals and is contributing to mounting debt pressures.
He noted that interest payments on the national debt have become the third-largest federal expense, behind defence and social security. “The Chinese are letting us spend ourselves into oblivion,” Kiriakou said, contrasting US military outlays with China’s focus on infrastructure such as high-speed rail and modernised airports.
Kiriakou identified China as the West’s primary long-term strategic challenge, citing what he described as Beijing’s patience and long-range planning compared with the US political cycle. He alleged that Chinese intelligence operations occur regularly on American university campuses, particularly targeting doctoral researchers in science and engineering fields.
On Taiwan, he said direct US military intervention was unlikely despite strong political rhetoric, arguing that recent US actions abroad point towards a more multipolar world in which regional powers assert their own spheres of influence.
