[Mariner]

As Sundance states in the article, the unmasking in and of itself was not illegal.

But there are dozens of folks on this site, that for some reason, believe it to be illegal. I think mostly because they WANT it to be illegal.

Heck, I want it to be illegal too absent a regular Federal Court Order. Not FISA courts either.

It’s the LEAKER that committed a certain crime, and by finding and charging the leaker we have a path to determine: Illegal Conspiracy to distribute in violation of the FISA, and Political Spying in violation of the FISA.

But if we don’t find the leaker, it’s not promising.

[omegatoo]

Is it legal to unmask American citizens if there is not a national security interest involved in the intercepted communication?

Would the original agency be required to do that if there was no national security interest, or could/must they refuse someone who was authorized to request an unmasking but was doing so for non-national-security reasons? (i.e. Rice)

Was she in a position to legally have seen the original intercepts before masking? That is confusing since some reports are saying she requested the unmasking, others are saying she did it herself, which would mean she knew the identities from the initial surveillance.

Thanks, O2