Thread by @20committee

Time to unmask* the latest Trump/Kremlin disinformation designed to distract Planet MAGA as Mueller's Hill testimony approaches. The source is one of the leading peddlers of DC #deza BS. Let's unpack his latest NSA-themed screed.

*See what I did there?

thehill.com/opinion/white-…

2/ First, there isn't much new here. The core is SIGINT unmasking in 2016 by members of the Obama admin. Specifically Samantha Power, then the US Ambassador to the UN. FYI, in advance of the Trumpist bullshit tornado: I'm no fan of Amb Power, per below:

nationalinterest.org/commentary/for…

3/ However, I 'm even less a fan of lying about our intel agencies. SIGINT unmasking is a formal procedure (I've been involved many times) where recipients of NSA intel --- which even in TS/SI channels does NOT reveal US Person (USP) identities, no matter what Hannity told you...

4/ Agency TS/SI reports will refer to "USP 1" and "USP 2" in the place of actual names, to protect privacy. If you want to know who's being referred to, you have to ask NSA to "unmask" that ID. They may (or may not) do so, depending on your need to know such sensitive things.

5/ Amb Power asked for a LOT of unmaskings in 2016, as did other Obama WH #natsec officials. The implication here is it was all THE GIANT DEEP STATE PLOT to stop Trump: a view endorsed by the current president himself. But #facts are lacking. No malfeasance has been shown.

6/ Let me be clear: if Power and other Obama-appointed officials abused SIGINT unmasking, they need to be exposed and punished.

If.

Nobody has shown anything of the sort yet. It's all presented, fact-free, as something sinister, shady and possibly illegal...but was it?

7/ First, NSA is not obligated to unmask anyone (and they do turn customers down, I've seen it happen). So somebody at NSA thought these SIGINT unmaskings, even unprecedented numbers of them, met legitimate and legal intelligence needs.

How so?

8/ If NSA was churning out a lot of SIGINT in 2016 that showed -- just hypothetically, mind you -- Team Trump representatives reaching out to Moscow & Gulf states in a manner that contradicted US policy, senior US diplomats would want to know exactly WHO was doing it. Rightly so.

9/ Maybe unprecedented numbers of SIGINT unmasking requests happened because Trumpers in 2016 were doing unprecedented things. Like "privately" negotiating with the Kremlin before the election on desired quid pro quo for sanctions lifting (just hypothetically, mind you).

10/ Then we get to the real "news" in this ridiculous piece: that Amb Powers didn't like Trump and his seedy retinue. In fact, they loathed them.

So did most of DC, newsflash to geniuses.

It's apparently VERY SUSPICIOUS now with all those SIGINT unmasking requests, amirite?

11/ Don't worry I'm sure FOIA requests -- which will be coming, because they always do -- of Trump WH emails today would IN NO WAY reveal that they're saying negative things about Democrats running for President in 2020.

They would surely never talk trash in emails.

Never.

End