1. My new @foxnews op-ed. Major points: despite false claims by former Obama officials, unmasking names of US citizens from intel reports is NOT routine. Sen. Chris Dodd said in 2005 that unmasking requests were “rarely requested” and made “infrequently” fxn.ws/2AyRNPo
2. The @nytimes said the same thing about unmaskings in a 2005 article: "Access to the names may be authorized by the N.S.A. only in response to special requests, and these are not common, particularly from policy makers.”
3. These 2005 statements were made during @AmbJohnBolton's Senate hearing on his nomination to be UN ambassador. Dems falsely argued at the time that Bolton's request of only 10 unmaskings in 4 years was a gross abuse of intelligence for political purposes.
5. I know how rare unmasking requests were from my work with the CIA. NSA tightened the rules on unmasking after the 2005 Bolton confirmation hearing. However, the Obama administration weakened them to allow more government employees access to this information.
6. Among the changes to unmasking rules by the Obama admin was significantly weakening restrictions on unmasking the names of members on Congress as well as requirements that such requests be reported to the intel oversight committees.
7. These changes went against a series of previous policies since the 90s to prevent the exec branch from using intel agencies to spy on Congress. I cite a major instance of how the Obama admin expoited this rule change in 2015 to spy on congressmen who met with PM Netanyahu.
8. It is imperative to uncover the extent of the Obama admin's abuse of U.S. intel for political purposes. This must include a full list of every American unmasked from intelligence reports – Trump aides, members of Congress, & ordinary Americans – and who made these requests.
9. We also need to determine how dozens - maybe 100s - of intel officers agreed to process 100s of Obama admin requests to unmask Trump campaign and transition officials. Such large numbers of requests were obviously ethically dubious. Why were no IG complaints filed . . .
10. . . . over these unmasking requests? The 100s of unmasking requests of Trump campaign and transition officials made by the Obama administration were in no way routine and necessary. I believe carrying out these unmasking requests was a huge ethical lapse by dozens –
11. . . . maybe hundreds – of U.S. intelligence community employees that must be addressed by the White House and the leaders of our intelligence agencies.
