As a former FBI agent was sentenced to 4 years in prison Thursday in Minnesota for disclosing classified information to the news media, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions hailed the latest court moves against leakers in the federal government, saying the Trump Administration is waging what may be 'the most aggressive campaign against leaks' in the history of the Department of Justice.
"Today's sentence should be a warning to every would-be leaker in the federal government that if they disclose classified information, they will pay a high price," Sessions said in a statement, making clear that government leakers will be 'prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and punished.'
The Sessions statement came after a busy week on the leak front for the feds:
+ On Monday, a former employee of the Senate Intelligence Committee plead guilty to lying to the FBI about leaks to a reporter.
+ Today, former FBI agent Terry Albury was sentenced to four years of jail time for leaking national security material to the Intercept.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
From press reports in recent days, it is obvious that more leak investigations are underway as well.
+ The Trump Administration has sent a subpoena to an immigration attorney, trying to find out how leaked an internal government memo from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, on how asylum applications would be handled for domestic violence victims.
+ The charges this week against a Treasury Department employee for leaking "Suspicious Activity Banking" reports shows another official in the same office had contacts with the news media as well.
+ Earlier this week, Attorney General Sessions told the Washington Times that there were 27 ongoing leak investigations at the Department of Justice.
+ Back in February, Sessions vowed that the Justice Department was going "aggressively" to find out who leaked information about transcripts of phone conversations involving former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
About the Author
