“Is it legal to unmask American citizens if there is not a national security interest involved in the intercepted communication?”
A National Security Adviser can ask for the unmasking over passing national security curiosity.
What they are forbidden to do is distribute to anyone without a need to know.
What Gowdy brought up in the hearings with Comey and NSA Chief Rogers a few weeks ago was that since the NSA and FBI already had Flynn’s name and the conversations (which they both agreed they did), the leaker’s motive couldn’t have been national security since the agencies in charge of national security already had the info. Who would Rice have thought she had to notify to further protect national security?
I would also hope that there would need to be more than a ‘curiosity’ to legitimately unmask a US person, but this is the fedgov, so probably not...
Do you know if the agencies must unmask when asked?
Thanks,
O2