Red State ^ | 9:00 pm on May 25, 2019 | Elizabeth Vaughn / FR Posted by E. Pluribus Unum
When U.S. intelligence agencies gather information on foreigners, often the name of a U.S. citizen or entity will be collected. Under current U.S. law, information about innocent citizens gathered in this way is referred to as incidental collection. Their names and data must be masked to protect their privacy. Authorized government officials, under certain conditions, may “unmask” the identity of an individual. In October 2017, Powers testified before a closed session of the House Intelligence Committee. Then Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) spoke to Fox News’ Brett Baier afterward and said:
Her testimony is they [the unmasking requests] may be under my name, but I did not make those requests. I think if she were on your show, she would say those requests to unmask may have been attributed to her, but they greatly exceed by an exponential factor the requests she actually made…So, that’s her testimony, and she was pretty emphatic about it.
So, we’ve got to get to the bottom of that. If there is someone else making requests on behalf of a principal in the intelligence community, we need to know that because we’re getting ready to reauthorize a program that’s really important to the country, but also has a masking component to it. When John Bolton served at the United Nations, he “unmasked” the identities of three individuals. In the year leading up to the 2016 presidential election, then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Powers unmasked over 260 Americans. On September 20, 2017, Fox News reported that the remarkable number of Americans who had been unmasked at Powers’ request “was an attempt to uncover associates of President Trump. She was ‘unmasking’ at such a rapid pace in the final months of the Obama administration that she averaged more than one request for every working day in... (Excerpt) Read more at redstate.com ...
============================
(HAT TIP PIASA--Update: JW Sues for Unmasking Targeting Trump Team | Feb 16, 2018 |
Quoting Tom Fitton --- responding to a FOIA request, we were told by the NSC in May 2017 that the materials regarding the unmasking by Obama's National Security Advisor, Susan Rice (onetime UN Ambassador) of “the identities of any U.S. citizens associated with the Trump presidential campaign or transition team” have been removed to the Obama Library.
This is right up there with the allegation theory that Susan Rice forged her UN successor, Samantha Power’s,
name to authorize unmaskings. Obama and HRC ordered the unmasking, and Rice obediently forged the signatures.
Partners in crime......UN Amb Powers, Hillary's successor,
Secy of State Kerry, Obama, NSC's Rice (Power's predecessor as UN Amb).