# Terry Albury

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Terry Albury," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/terry-albury/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*FBI special agent in Minneapolis, prosecuted under the Espionage Act after photographing the Bureau's own internal study of racism and sending it to The Intercept. The FBI identified him from security-camera footage of every computer that had opened the memo. John Kiriakou — who says the reporter who received the document gave him up, tweeted at the publication about it, and stayed in touch with Albury through his sentence — treats him as one link in a chain of Intercept sources who went to prison, and as one rung on a ladder of steadily lengthening national-security sentences.*

- **Position:** Special agent, FBI Minneapolis field office
- **Grievance:** Filed a racial discrimination case against the Bureau
- **Disclosure:** An internal, barely classified memo on systemic racism at the FBI
- **Method:** Photographed the document on his screen with his phone
- **Recipient:** The Intercept, via [Matthew Cole](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/matthew-cole)
- **How he was caught:** Security-camera footage of every computer that accessed the memo
- **Outcome:** Charged with espionage, convicted, imprisoned — released late 2020
- **Sentence:** Three and a half years in most of Kiriakou's tellings; four in one

**Terry Albury** was a special agent in the FBI's Minneapolis field office whom [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) describes as *"a courageous FBI agent."*[1] Albury had filed a racial discrimination case against the Bureau, which Kiriakou calls *"notoriously racist"*, after being passed over for promotion despite being, in Kiriakou's assessment, more competitive than white agents promoted ahead of him.[2]

## The disclosure

An internal study of racism at the FBI was subsequently carried out — a *"barely classified memo saying that there was systemic"* racism in the Bureau.[3][4] Albury photographed the document on his screen with his phone and sent an encrypted copy to [The Intercept](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-intercept), where it was received by [Matthew Cole](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/matthew-cole).[2][5] *"And Matthew Cole outed him to the FBI. And Terry Albury was arrested and charged with espionage and convicted and sent to prison."*[5]

Kiriakou gives the mechanics of the identification: the Bureau *"went back and looked at the security camera footage from every computer that had accessed the memo, and they identified FBI agent Terry Albury as the person who had taken the picture."*[6] In his accounts of *The Intercept*'s national-security desk he names two journalists rather than one — Cole and Richard Esposito, the pair he also holds responsible for his own imprisonment.[7][6]

The length of the sentence varies slightly across Kiriakou's tellings: most often *"three and a half years,"* once *"four years."*[8][6][9] Albury was released around the end of November 2020.[10][11]

## Kiriakou's response

Kiriakou's response at the time was public. He tweeted at the publication directly: *"Hey Intercept, serious question. You guys aren't really that stupid, are you? You aren't really that bad at journalism, are you? You're really just a front for the FBI, right?"*[5][12][13] A contemporaneous version of the tweet names the casualties and demands an accounting: *"Do you secretly work for the FBI? Daniel Hale, Reality Winner and Terry Albury are in prison because of you. Incompetence, or are you compromised? You owe a lot of people an explanation and an apology."*[14]

His rule of thumb about the pattern is stated as an escalating series: *"once is an accident, twice is a terrible coincidence, three times you're secretly working for the FBI."*[15] He is careful not to make the accusation absolute — Cole *"did great work on the Navy SEALs war crimes in Afghanistan"* — but the list he recites is consistent: [Reality Winner](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/reality-winner), Albury, [Daniel Hale](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/daniel-hale) and himself.[15][16][17]

## The ladder of sentences

Kiriakou uses Albury as one rung in an argument about prosecutorial escalation: *"every time one of these cases comes up, they ask for a longer sentence. So I got thirty months. [Sterling](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jeffrey-sterling) got forty-two months… There was an FBI whistleblower, Terry Albury, that got four years. Reality Winner got five years, four months. And then it came time for Daniel Hale."*[9]

He notes one line the Justice Department did not cross in these cases. Winner, Hale and Albury were not given the terrorism enhancement that the department's national security division sought against [Julian Assange](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/julian-assange), and that [Chelsea Manning](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/chelsea-manning) received — Manning having additionally been accused by the military of aiding the enemy.[18]

## Afterwards

Kiriakou stayed in contact with Albury throughout the sentence, and describes the effort as seasonal triage: *"I've remained in touch with a lot of guys still in prison, including Terry Albury, the FBI whistleblower. And I've tried to sort of help them get through Christmas."* New Year's Eve in prison, he says, was fine; *"Christmas is the only holiday that people really start to sink emotionally."*[19] He now counts Albury and Winner among his friends.[1]

## See also

- [Matthew Cole](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/matthew-cole)
- [Reality Winner](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/reality-winner)
- [Daniel Hale](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/daniel-hale)
- [The Intercept](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-intercept)
- [Jeffrey Sterling](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jeffrey-sterling)
- [Espionage Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/espionage-act)

## Sources

1. Trump Is Coming for the Man Who Put Me in Prison. | Ep. 8 (2026-08-06), at 23:20. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acka-0VUri8&t=1400s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-06-john-kiriakou-trump-is-coming-for-the-man-who-put-me-in-pri/
2. Trump Is Coming for the Man Who Put Me in Prison. | Ep. 8 (2026-08-06), at 23:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acka-0VUri8&t=1431s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-06-john-kiriakou-trump-is-coming-for-the-man-who-put-me-in-pri/
3. LA Progressive interview with John Kiriakou (2021-10-13), at 03:07. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfezVxYzOGE&t=187s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-10-13-sharon-kyle-la-progressive-interview-with-john-kiriakou/
4. Former CIA Agent John Kiriakou Turned Whistleblower Talk (2021-10-17), at 03:07. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiAb3oiaZ58&t=187s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-10-17-la-progressive/
5. Trump Is Coming for the Man Who Put Me in Prison. | Ep. 8 (2026-08-06), at 24:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acka-0VUri8&t=1462s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-06-john-kiriakou-trump-is-coming-for-the-man-who-put-me-in-pri/
6. ScheerPost (2023-10-08), at 08:52. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMBuTzzYChY&t=532s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-10-08-scheerpost-scheerpost/
7. Enema of the State (2023-03-05), at 07:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgGxUpHktUU&t=450s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-03-05-enema-of-the-state-enema-of-the-state/
8. US vs. Reality Winner: Q&A w/ Reality Winner, Kiriakou (2021-11-27), at 1:26:01. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYm__RK8-9g&t=5161s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-11-27-disruption-network-lab-us-vs-reality-winner-q-a-w-reality-winner-kir/
9. Daniel Hale and America's unending persecution of whistleblowers (2021-10-29), at 30:48. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss365a647a&t=1848s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-10-29-scheer-intelligence-daniel-hale-and-america-s-unending-persecutio/
10. John Kiriakou — Whistleblower Protections, Torture, and Ju (2020-11-23), at 32:16. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Uq2aYrR5w&t=1936s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-11-23-revolutionary-change/
11. Revolutionary Change (2020-11-24), at 10:59. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IozNdHiBjJM&t=659s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-11-24-revolutionary-change-revolutionary-change-IozNdH/
12. Trump Is Coming for the Man Who Put Me in Prison. | Ep. 8 (2026-08-06), at 24:54. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acka-0VUri8&t=1494s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-06-john-kiriakou-trump-is-coming-for-the-man-who-put-me-in-pri/
13. S1E25 The Whistleblower (2026-04-27), at 18:24. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/69e7c21366c3374f7edf356d/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-27-dead-drop-s1e25-the-whistleblower/
14. Jamarl Thomas (2019-05-13), at 04:20. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D0JzqaGNKs&t=260s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-05-13-jamarl-thomas-jamarl-thomas/
15. Ep. 5150 – John Kiriakou on the Brutal CIA Torture of Abu (2019-12-30), at 38:25. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmUsmRQO_cQ&t=2305s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-12-30-scott-horton/
16. In Limine — John Kiriakou (2023-02-06), at 40:52. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud096a018e9&t=2452s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-02-06-in-limine-podcast-in-limine-john-kiriakou/
17. Jailing the Messenger The CIA's Torture Whistleblower (2021-09-08), at 48:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud02b3c7e5&t=2883s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-09-08-primary-sources-jailing-the-messenger-the-cia-s-torture-whist/
18. Kevin Gosztola (Unauthorized Disclosure) (2024-02-19), at 34:24. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1E8EypwzPA&t=2064s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-02-19-kevin-gosztola-unauthorized-disclosure-kevin-gosztola-unauthorized-disclosure/
19. New Years Eve Part 1 (English) (2020-01-01), at 22:29. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud2986dcf30&t=1349s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-01-01-potkaars-podcast-new-years-eve-part-1-english/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/terry-albury/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt