Posted on 08/01/2017 4:30:31 AM PDT by Whenifhow
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper revised rules in 2013 in a way that made it easier to "unmask" the names of lawmakers or congressional staffers who are incidentally caught in foreign surveillance.
The new procedures implemented by Clapper uprooted the previous set of rules that had been in use for just over two decades, according to a report from The Hill.
The report relied in part on a newly released memo by the ODNI created in 2013 that said the lawmakers or staffers' names could be unmasked if an intelligence agency under the executive branch thought that "the identity of the Member of Congress or the Congressional staff is necessary to understand and assess the associated intelligence and further a lawful activity of the recipient agency[.]"
The previous standard required the CIA director to give "prior written approval" that there was a legitimate foreign intelligence need that could only be met by having the names unmasked.
However, the report from The Hill also laid out the case why the move by Clapper wasn't necessarily politically motivated.
For example, this past June, President Trump's leader of the DNI Dan Coats reissued the rules, showing that the new administration is in sync with the changes.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
How Clapper made it easier to unmask members of Congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNGbFk2fiLs
6:38 Minutes
How Clapper made it easier to unmask members of Congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNGbFk2fiLs
Depends on interpretation of the article. They may have added the part about Coats, but the main idea is that Clapper started it and who knows if Coats really authorized it again?
The paragraph below shows that the author had an opinion before he started writing. How is this NOT wiretapping? The meaning of it is clear - it was political.
Quote:
The issue became a flashpoint earlier this spring after Trump tweeted that he thought the Obama administration had been “wiretapping” his campaign. There is still no evidence that any wire taps against Trump happened, but some surrogates and advocates of the president have suggested that expanded unmasking procedures effectively allowed higher-ranking Obama officials to keep tabs on the Trump campaign.
I think the article is damage control effort. The problem is much worse than stated and much more calculated.
It never mentioned Brennan who previously was required to authorize. Even that excuse was lame.
Obama used ever dirty tool in the tool kit for political gain, subversion of our remaining legal restraints on government. They all need every speck of their crooked lives examined and held accountable.
‘The Hill also laid out the case that the unmasking wasn’t necessarily politically motivated’
Of course they did. According to Big Media, the Obama Admin never did anything that was ‘politically motivated’. Oh, the hypocrisy!
Beautiful.....you nailed it. Could not agree more.
There was an article hypertext linked to a “source” which turns out to be “in depth” reporting from John Solomon, who is in the video posted at post 2. Included in the article is the history of the program as far as unmasking,
John Solomon
July 31 2017
Spy agencies changed rules, making it easier to unmask members of Congress
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/344666-changed-rules-made-it-easier-for-spies-to-unmask
From article:
Clapper’s successor as DNI, former Republican Sen. Dan Coats (Ind.), reissued the 2013 congressional unmasking rules as an official directive on June 29, signaling the Trump administration is comfortable with the same procedures.
snip
Gone was the “last resort” language from 1992 that mandated a congressional unmasking could occur only if the need “cannot be satisfied in any other fashion.”
The new guidance also empowered intelligence agencies that intercepted information from or about a congressional employee without a warrant to ask the DNI to unmask the name on their own — without a request from leaders — before disseminating an intelligence report if they believed it was “necessary” for others to “understand and assess” the intelligence reports.
Such proactive unmasking language was not contained in the 1992 rules.
Likewise, the old rules required written authorization from only the CIA director. The new rules allowed the DNI’s chief lawyer to make the decision in most cases.
Officials stressed that the Gang of Eight leadership group in Congress — the House Speaker, House minority leader, Senate majority leader, Senate minority leader and the bipartisan heads of both chambers’ intelligence committees — were consulted about the changes in rules and routinely are alerted when a congressional identity has been unmasked.
Jail Clapper.
And Traitor Brennan and many more.
Thanks
See post 8 for an excerpt from “the Hill”.
The rule change was political. Since the rule change was made, it is hard to say if people who did this CAN be held accountable. Clapper should be held accountable.
The 702 program should not be authorized by congress this fall.
This is just another smoke screen. Unmasking trump and his team was still illegal. None were members of Congress. Still doesn’t explain why the UN Ambassador needed people unmasked. Jail them all.
Was it rules or law ?
It was “guidance” according to the info in post 8.
Rules in other words.
YES
It’s against the law to unmask a US citizen.
U.S. Code ?
If the repugnicuns had their act together, there would be 8 years(at a minimum) of democRat investigations. From top to bottom.
I believe Brennan and Crapper are the leaders of the ‘resistance’ .
But could not figure out they had been totally compromised by a Pakistani spy ring. Guess that tells us exactly why they were spying on these guys. Not for our protection against foreign agents but for blackmail power against them.
Now we can understand why some in the Congress and Senate are in such a panic against Trump...even some in his own party.
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