FBI agent pleads guilty of leaking in case linked to The Intercept

WASHINGTON: An FBI agent faced up to five years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to providing classified documents to a reporter in the second leak case pursued by the Trump administration linked to The Intercept.

Terry Albury admitted in a Minnesota court to charges that he disclosed information on how federal agents assess and manage informants during 2016 and 2017.

The names of the reporter and media outlet which received the information were not given in court documents. But specifics of the leaked materials and the timing laid out in the charges pointed to The Intercept, an online publication which frequently breaks important stories on national security.

The Intercept posted a story on Jan 31, 2017 on how the FBI woos and pressures immigrants, including Muslims, to become confidential sources, and then when finished sometimes hands them over to immigration authorities for deportation.

It was the second case pursued by the Trump administration against a leaker to The Intercept.

The online magazine has infuriated officials since it was created in 2014. Using top secret documents released by former government intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, it built a record of exposing secret activities of the US National Security Agency, including illegal surveillance.