Former FBI Agent Terry Albury
Terry Albury is a devoted father, husband, and a patriot.
He has dedicated his entire professional life to the protection and defense of the people of the United States. In September of 2017, after nearly 17 years of service, Terry was arrested, and fired by the FBI, for disclosing to a reporter certain classified documents relating to how the FBI has surveilled and targeted minority communities. He did so as an act of conscience without any financial or career motive. Today, he needs your help.
The government prosecuted him under the Espionage Act for his disclosures. On April 17, 2018, he pled guilty. On October 18, 2018, he was sentenced to four years in prison. He surrenders to the Bureau of Prisons on November 13, 2018. Terry accepts this sentence with dignity and plans to serve it as a model prisoner. But he enters prison with large legal costs that have been paid by no-one but himself and his close family members.
As the breadwinner of his family, and as he confronts his prison sentence, he seeks your support to underwrite legal fees and expenses alone. This Legal Defense Fund will be administered by a lawyer independent from his current lawyers and any excess will be transferred to a registered charity that donates to organizations that support press freedom.
You can read more here about his case:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/former-fbi-agent-gets-four-years-in-prison-for-leaking-classified-documents/2018/10/18/be6eab54-d2ed-11e8-b2d2-f397227b43f0_story.html?utm_term=.8e388f145c82
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/us/politics/terry-albury-fbi-sentencing.html
https://theintercept.com/2018/10/18/terry-albury-sentencing-fbi/
One of his lawyers, JaneAnne Murray, posted this publicly on her Facebook account, linking to this campaign, to assure you that this campaign will apply the funds as promised. https://www.facebook.com/janeanne.murray
Terry’s journey of public service can be traced back to years of mentoring at-risk youth throughout Appalachia as a student at Berea College, while spending his summers supporting struggling families seeking self-reliance through Habitat for Humanity. These experiences laid the foundation of his consciousness that he should serve a cause greater than himself.
Prior to graduating college, he joined the FBI as an Honors Intern and worked to combat the prevalence of Child Sex Tourism, nationally and internationally. His internship eventually led to a position as Special Agent with the FBI. In the ensuing 17 years, he defended our country and our people against gangs, drug dealers, sex-traffickers, terrorists, among other criminals. His work has garnered several awards.
In 2009, as part of an FBI foreign placement as Special Agent, Terry left the safety of his homeland and traveled to Baghdad, Iraq. He believed, like his FBI Special Agent colleagues, he could prevent terrorism from reaching the shores of the U.S. if he simply took the fight to the “enemy.” His experience in Iraq, however, deepened a growing reservation regarding how the U.S. was addressing the issue of national security in the post 9-11 world. In Iraq, he was assigned to interview prisoners, but his experience was that he encountered innocent human beings - people struggling with political issues beyond their power - and he felt deep empathy for their humanity and vulnerability. His view also made it especially difficult because some of these prisoners had been subjected to torture, a fact he found impossible to rationalize and ignore.
Returning to the U.S. after his service in Iraq, and still in his role as FBI Special Agent, Terry relocated to the FBI Minneapolis field office. (He had, by this point, started a family with his wife, the child of Cambodian refugees.) Assigned to the anti-terrorism squad, he believed that in this capacity, he could continue serving his country in the war on terrorism. However, he soon found himself immersed in an institutional culture that, in his view, demeaned, demonized, harassed, and intimidated the very people he was sworn to protect and serve. Worse yet, Terry was required to implement FBI investigative directives that sanctioned the use of race and religion as a basis for targeting wide swaths of communities throughout Minnesota, and other locations in which he served. He sought transfers to other non-terrorism squads, such as the human trafficking squad, to no avail.
As the only black FBI agent in Minnesota, his troubling experiences as a counter-terrorism agent in Minnesota profoundly affected Terry professionally and personally. The tensions and conflicts within him became unbearable and he made a series of unauthorized disclosures on matters of immense public interest that subjected him to swift legal penalties. Of note, there is no public interest defense to violations of the Espionage Act. Accordingly, in April of 2018, Terry took full responsibility for his conduct.
Terry deeply appreciates the statements of organizations and individuals who have expressed support for him.
We seek your kindness and support in supplementing Terry’s significant legal expenses in this legal experience with the U.S. Government. Other than funds from his own savings or the generosity of family members, Terry has received ZERO financial support from any for-profit or non-profit organization or any other individual.
Terry does not seek fame, notoriety or wealth, and his actions not only did not seek that type of personal gain, but ended his career as a law enforcement officer. Ultimately, his primary concern has, and always will remain, advancing the cause of justice for all citizens of our global community regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or any other arbitrary and insignificant difference.
Thank you
