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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The CIA asked the Justice Department to investigate whether former operative John Kiriakou illegally disclosed classified information when he talked about the waterboarding of a terrorism suspect, government officials say.

Ex-CIA agent John Kiriakou says he underwent waterboarding in training and cracked in a few seconds.

Kiriakou spoke last week with several news organizations, including CNN, after the CIA disclosed that videotapes of certain interrogations were destroyed in 2005.

That revelation has prompted new calls for investigations on Capitol Hill.

The Bush administration appeared in U.S. District Court on Friday to answer a judge's questions about the tapes' destruction.

Speaking to CNN last week, Kiriakou said that U.S. interrogators drew valuable information from al Qaeda captive Abu Zubayda by "waterboarding" him. But Kiriakou said the procedure amounts to torture and should be stopped.

Waterboarding involves pouring a stream of water onto the cellophane-covered face of a suspect to induce the sensation of drowning, Kiriakou said.

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