EX-AGENT JAILED OVER LEAK

A former FBI agent in Minnesota who admitted to leaking classified defence documents to a reporter was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison.

Terry Albury, 39, pleaded guilty in April to one count each of unauthorized disclosure of national defence information and unauthorized retention of national defence information.

Prosecutors said he betrayed public trust when he stole more than 70 documents, including 50 that were classified. The information he shared with an online news organization included a document classified as “secret” that related to how the FBI assesses confidential informants.

Albury’s defence attorneys asked for probation, saying he acted patriotically and was morally conflicted by the FBI’s counterterrorism policies that he viewed as racial profiling.

The Trump administration and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have made prosecuting government employees who leak sensitive information to the media a priority.

Legal scholars also weighed in on the sentencing. A group of 17 scholars who focus on constitutional law, First Amendment law and media law filed a brief asking the court to craft a punishment that would weigh the constitutional protection of free speech and the public’s interest in Albury’s disclosure against any harm to national security.