An FBI agent has been charged by the Justice Department for allegedly leaking covert documents to a news organization, according to a complaint filed in Minnesota.
Terry Albury, a Minneapolis-based agent, is accused of providing information on FBI informants with an unidentified reporter with a national media outlet. Albury also allegedly disclosed a document “relating to threats posed by certain individuals from a particular Middle Eastern country.”
Although the reporter and outlet are not identified, the filing says Albury had unauthorized access to the content from February 2016 to Jan. 31, 2017.
Multiple reports have noted that on Jan. 31, 2017, the Intercept published a piece called, “The FBI’s Secret Rules,” that asserted the FBI probes individuals who could be sources.
“Terry Albury served the U.S. with distinction both here at home and abroad in Iraq. He accepts full responsibility for the conduct set forth in the Information,” Albury’s attorneys JaneAnne Murray and Joshua Dratel said in a statement, according to the Washington Post. “We would like to add that as the only African-American FBI field agent in Minnesota, Mr. Albury’s actions were driven by a conscientious commitment to long-term national security and addressing the well-documented systemic biases within the FBI.”
The FBI has determined that the Intercept published online 27 government documents, 16 of which were classified, between April 2016 and February 2017, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, citing a previously sealed search warrant application. The FBI also identified Albury as having accessed a majority of the documents.
“We understand that there is an Espionage Act prosecution underway against an alleged FBI whistleblower in Minnesota, who is accused of leaking materials relating to the FBI’s use of confidential human sources,” Intercept editor-in-chief Betsy Reed said in a statement Wednesday, according to the Washington Post.
“News reports have suggested that the prosecution may be linked to stories published by The Intercept,” she added. “We do not discuss anonymous sources. The use of the Espionage Act to prosecute whistleblowers seeking to shed light on matters of vital public concern is an outrage, and all journalists have the right under the First Amendment to report these stories.”
The Intercept previously was involved in a leak investigation last June when government contractor Reality Winner was accused of mishandling classified information. According to federal prosecutors, Winner provided a top-secret document to a news outlet.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has condemned the leaks that have occurred in the Trump administration and last year pledged to investigate and prosecute government leakers.
