should be restricted to those officials with a need for such information.These minimization requirements complement and supplement traditional standards under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
For example, in 2015 during the Obama administration, Representative Pete Hoekstra tweeted: "WSJ report that NSA spied on Congress and Israel communications very disturbing.
[15] In February 2017, during the Trump administration, Michael Flynn resigned his position as National Security Advisor, reportedly after communications he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were unmasked and leaked to the press.
Flynn lost his job because the leaks led White House officials to believe that he had misled them about his discussion with Kislyak in December 2016.
investigated four unidentified Trump campaign aides in those early months...[including]...Michael T. Flynn, Paul Manafort, Carter Page and Mr.
"[23][24] The then top Democrat on the committee, Adam Schiff, says the investigation into unmasking is meant to divert attention from probes of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.
[25] The list of Obama officials who sought to unmask Flynn was declassified by acting director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell.
The list includes then Vice President Joe Biden, then-FBI Director James Comey, then-CIA Director John Brennan, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and Obama's then-chief of staff Denis McDonough;[26] in addition, Samantha Power, at the time U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, appears on the unmasking records as having requested Flynn to be unmasked seven times.
It was also revealed that unmasking requests have significantly increased under the Trump presidency according to statistical transparency reports by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Bash wrote he had found no evidence that any unmasking requests were made for any political or otherwise improper reasons during the 2016 election period or the ensuing presidential transition.
He reported that "the FBI shared transcripts of the relevant communications outside the Bureau without masking General Flynn's name", but did not investigate further, because it would have been outside the scope of his inquiry.
[34][33] The declassification order was criticized by former law enforcement officials as an unmasking that could endanger other sources and make the FBI's work harder.
[33] About two weeks after he was unmasked, Danchenko received a subpoena from Alfa-Bank, and his lawyer said that his client "fears for his life", since Russian agents are known to kill such informers.