# The Sue Mi Terry case > **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: "The Sue Mi Terry case," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-sue-mi-terry-case/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *John Kiriakou's reading of the prosecution of analyst Sue Mi Terry — charged not under the Espionage Act but under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, an offence he reduces to failing to fill out a form on the internet, and one whose nominal sentencing range he says means nothing in practice.* Handed the story as his own territory, Kiriakou began by noting a detail he had forgotten until his producer supplied it: that Sue Mi Terry is the wife of Max Boot. [1] ## The charge Terry, he says, is "widely respected, providing analysis," and the case struck him as "a real stretch." [2] The substance of Kiriakou's argument is about which statute was used. She was charged with multiple offences, he stresses, "not under the Espionage Act, but under the FARA Act, Foreign Agents Registration Act." What that means, in his rendering, is that "she forgot to fill out a form on the internet" — and that this makes it a felony. [2] ## The sentencing range and what it is worth Kiriakou gives the nominal exposure: on a first FARA offence, zero to six months. He then argues that the number is not predictive, because "on FARA, the Justice Department doesn't care what it is." [3] His illustration is Maria Butina, who was convicted of failing to file. Despite the same zero-to-six-month recommendation, Kiriakou says, she received eighteen months — and served it in solitary confinement. [3] ## Who is driving it Kiriakou's puzzlement is directed at his own former employer rather than at the prosecutors. "I don't know why the CIA is demanding that these charges be pursued," he says. "I think it's kind of nuts." [3] He volunteers that he has no sympathy for Terry's husband — "I'm no friend of Max Boot's, I never" — which he offers as evidence that the position is not a favour to an ally. [4] ## Whether she did it Asked directly whether he thinks she is guilty, Kiriakou does not say she is innocent. His answer is that "she may be guilty of, you know, laziness" — and he returns immediately to the size of the offence: "the crime literally is failing to fill out a form on the internet." [4] The comparison he and Rall reach for is the registration burden imposed on RT and Sputnik, which Kiriakou confirms required filing every single day. [4] Kiriakou then apologised to viewers and left the broadcast to reach a train. [4] ## See also - [Maria Butina](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/maria-butina) - [Espionage Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/espionage-act) - [Tucker Carlson 2026 FARA referral](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/tucker-carlson-2026-fara-referral) - [The Sputnik shutdown](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-sputnik-shutdown) ## Sources 1. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-08-14), at 23:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htr-FhIuCKo&t=1431s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-14-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ 2. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-08-14), at 24:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htr-FhIuCKo&t=1462s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-14-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ 3. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-08-14), at 24:55. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htr-FhIuCKo&t=1495s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-14-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ 4. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-08-14), at 25:26. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htr-FhIuCKo&t=1526s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-14-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-sue-mi-terry-case/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt