Which Biden Official Asked The NSA To Unmask Tucker Carlson?
Immediate steps must be taken to stop this abuse of U.S. intelligence agencies to weaponize intelligence against American journalists.
By Fred Fleitz
July 30, 2021
Last week, a National Security Agency (NSA) investigation quietly confirmed Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s allegation that it had collected his electronic communications. The NSA also admitted the content of Carlson’s communications was leaked to the press after they “unmasked” Carlson’s name to a Biden administration official.
The NSA cannot legally target the communications of Americans without an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) court. However, such communications are often “incidentally” collected when an innocent American communicates with a legitimate NSA target, such as someone believed to be under the control of or collaborating with a hostile foreign power.
When this happens, the name of the innocent American is supposed to be “masked,” or redacted. Senior U.S. officials are permitted to request the name of a masked American cited in an NSA report if the name is necessary to understanding the report. If the NSA approves an unmasking request, the name of the masked American is only briefed to the requesting official, who is advised that this information is extremely sensitive and cannot be revealed to others without the NSA’s permission.
After the Obama administration abused this process to obtain information from NSA reports about Trump campaign officials in 2016, the Trump administration adopted strict rules for unmasking requests.
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https://thefederalist.com/2021/07/30/which-biden-official-asked-the-nsa-to-unmask-tucker-carlson/