And at the end of the day what is going to be determined about Ms Rice is whether or not she...or someone else leaked the names to someone in Congress or to the media which IS the illegal part of all of this.
The simple unmasking of names in and of itself is not illegal.
The crux of that last issue (evidence of criminality of unmasking) is, as the lawyers in my family like to say, "in discovery". It is often said that intention is 9/10ths of the law. If evidence is uncovered that Rice used her authority to request unmasking of U.S. citizens for political / personal reasons, not legitimate ones related to her job function, that would arguably constitute evidence of a crime or crimes plural (political espionage). Preventing government officials from doing that was most of the motivation for the creation of the Espionage Act stipulations in regard to misuse of government authority by officials (goes back to the post-Watergate era)
Showing intent is a gray area of law so the case is a question mark at this point. However the ability for her to skate the way Hill-O_lies did without an indictment if such evidence does emerge, makes it likely that she will feel at least some significant pressure to turn state's evidence to avoid a long prison sentence, especially since she will likely be charged with multiple counts, each with its own sentence attached, if she is indicted.
