“And sometimes in that context, in order to understand the importance of the report, and assess it’s significance, it was necessary to find out, or request the information as to who the U.S. official was.”
Not the biggest question here, but of interest I think. The law may make some separation between U.S. officials and non-officials. Rice refers to communications with U.S. officials. Whether they were officials after the election I don’t know - they would certainly have not been prior to the election.
Napolitano thinks it is espionage to unmask people unjustly
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/5384680187001/?#sp=show-clips