Document: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/read-documents-listing-names-of-obama-era-officials-who-sought-to-unmask-michael-flynn

Article: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/grenell-releases-list-of-officials-who-sought-to-unmask-flynn-biden-comey-obama-intel-chiefs-among-them

List of officials who sought to 'unmask' Flynn released: Biden, Comey, Obama chief of staff among them

Top Obama administration officials purportedly requested to "unmask" the identity of Michael Flynn during the presidential transition period, according to a list of names from that controversial process made public on Wednesday.

The list was declassified in recent days by Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, and then sent to GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, who made the documents public. It features top figures including then-Vice President Joe Biden, then-FBI Director James Comey and intelligence chiefs John Brennan and James Clapper. It also included Obama's then-chief of staff, Denis McDonough.

READ THE DOCUMENTS

"I declassified the enclosed document, which I am providing to you for your situational awareness," Grenell wrote to GOP senators in sending along the list.

Grenell’s letter was addressed to Sens. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Johnson, R-Wis., who had penned a letter to him and Attorney General Bill Barr regarding the declassification of files related to the unmasking process earlier in the day.

As Fox News previously reported, Grenell made the decision to declassify information about Obama administration officials who were involved in the “unmasking” of former national security adviser Flynn — whose calls with the former Russian ambassador during the presidential transition were picked up in surveillance and later leaked.

Grenell appeared to have delivered those files to the DOJ last week. The declassified list showed recipients who “may have received Lt. Gen Flynn’s identity in response to a request processed between 8 November 2016 and 31 January 2017 to unmask an identity that had been generically referred to in an NSA foreign intelligence report,” the document, obtained by Fox News, read.

The list revealed that then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power made unmasking requests seven times between Nov. 30, 2016 and Jan. 11, 2017. The list revealed that Clapper made three requests from Dec. 2, 2016 through Jan. 7, 2017; that Brennan made two requests, one on Dec. 14 and one on Dec. 15, 2016. Comey also made a request on Dec. 15, 2016. On Jan. 5, 2017, McDonough made one request, and on Jan. 12, 2017, then-Vice President Biden made one request.

The document comes just a day after Biden told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” that he knew “nothing about those moves to investigate Michael Flynn,” and called the topic a “diversion” from the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden was pressed again, and clarified: “I thought you asked me whether or not I had anything to do with him being prosecuted. I’m sorry. ... I was aware that there was—that they asked for an investigation, but that’s all I know about it, and I don’t think anything else.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202688)

WASHINGTON — The investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election — and President Trump's counterattack against surveillance and leaking — has brought a new term into the American political lexicon.

"Unmasking."

Until now, the process for revealing information about U.S. citizens in intelligence reports was almost completely obscure outside of the intelligence community.

But the issue has taken on new importance since House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes alleged that the Obama administration may have improperly identified Trump transition officials in classified reports he had access to — reports that later turned out to be provided to him by the Trump White House.

Here's what we know about the hows and whys of unmasking:

'Minimization' procedures

When U.S. spy agencies eavesdrop on terrorists or foreign agents, they often come across information about U.S. citizens who are not the target of their investigation. This "incidental collection" is not illegal or improper, but specially trained intelligence officers are required to go through an established procedure to protect the privacy of U.S. persons, known as "minimization."

(U.S. persons are defined as U.S. citizens and permanent residents, no matter where they are in the world.)

Identifying information about that person will generally be excluded in intelligence reports that are distributed throughout the intelligence community, including those that go to the White House. Instead, the reports will refer only to "U.S. Person One," "U.S. Person Two," etc.

But the intelligence community's policies on minimization are not absolute, and there are several exceptions. The National Security Agency, for example, will contain the names of U.S. persons in intelligence reports when:

► The information is available publicly, meaning "information that a member of the public could obtain on request, by research in public sources, or by casual observation."

► "The identity of the United States person is necessary to understand foreign intelligence information or assess its importance, e.g., the identity of a senior official in the executive branch."

► The intelligence indicates that the U.S. person may be "an agent of a foreign power."

If a national security official who receives an intelligence report feels like he or she needs to know the identity of a U.S. person in an intelligence report, that official can make a request to "unmask."

The procedures for doing so are less well understood than the minimization process, but about 20 officials at the National Security Agency have the authority to approve an unmasking, NSA Director Michael Rogers told the House Intelligence Committee last month.

Especially sensitive requests would come to his attention personally. "I'm the senior-most of the 20 individuals. Requests will be pushed to my level, say 'Hey, sir, we just want to make sure that you're comfortable with this,'" he said.

Rogers said those officials all have specific training. "There are specific controls put in place in terms of our ability to disseminate information out of the databases associated with U.S. persons," he said.

Other intelligence agencies — including the CIA, FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center — have their own procedures for minimization and unmasking.

In an interview with MSNBC Tuesday, Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice denied making requests to unmask the names of Trump associates for political purposes. She described the process as routine, but declined to say specifically how often she made requests or for what purposes.

"There were occasions when I would receive a report in which a U.S. person was referred to. Name not provided, just a U.S. person," she said. "And sometimes in that context, in order to understand the importance of the report, and assess its significance, it was necessary to find out, or request the information, as to who the U.S. official was.

"So when that occurred, what I would do, or what any official would do, is to ask their briefer whether the intelligence community would go through its process — and there's a long-standing, established process — to decide whether that information as to who the identity of the U.S. person was could be provided to me. So they'd take that question back, they'd put it through a process, and the intelligence community made the determination as to whether or not the identity of that American individual could be provided to me."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202765)

Wonder if knowing Flynn was Flynn changes the assessment of the call in question.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202784)

the people requesting to unmask flynn knew exactly who he was and were looking to embarrass or hurt flynn and or trump, right?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40204216)

Obama's Chief of Staff as well as Joe Biden were personally requesting snooping on Flynn

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202845)

You'll note the FBI found zero evidence to continue the investigation of Flynn and wanted to close the investigation on Jan 4

Yet Biden is still requesting spying a week later

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202863)

Why is he doing this instead of the FBI?

Why is Obama's Chief of Staff doing this?

This is a political rival of theirs and they are spying on his phone calls. Does Biden get involved in every criminal investigation in this country or just this one?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202886)

"You'll note the FBI found zero evidence to continue the investigation of Flynn and wanted to close the investigation on Jan 4

Yet Biden is still requesting spying a week later"

Your theory seems to be that Biden should have realized the case on Flynn was closed, so he should not request unmasking of this anonymous individual. Can you spot the problem with this reasoning?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202902)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202917)

From the liberal rag Wall Street Journal.

For an administration dealing with known attacks on our political system by Russia, do you think it would be relevant for the administration to know the identity of somebody discussing sanctions with Russia? Yes or no please.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202934)

Please describe exactly what Russia did

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202944)

You also seem to be ducking this point (like my pun)?

"The officials wouldn’t have known Mr. Flynn’s identity until after receiving the unmasked reports from the NSA. Mr. Biden’s request to see an unmasked intercept occurred on Jan. 12, 2017, eight days before he left office."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202948)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202933)

intelligence officials brief a bunch of people on Dec. 14/15/16 and basically say "US Person 1 had a phone call with the Russian Ambassador to the US and discussed sanctions," then the officials said "wtf? who was that" and put in the unmasking request, and then the intel officials came back and said it was flynn.

in other words the unmasking occurs after the fact, after the intel has already been collected. not seeing the significance of who requests the unmasking. only important thing seems to be whether or not the intel officials were acting properly in collecting the intel in the first place.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202914)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Douglass

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202802)

By Aruna Viswanatha and Dustin Volz

The National Security Agency received and approved requests from more than a dozen Obama administration officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, to “unmask” a U.S. citizen mentioned in classified foreign intelligence reports that revealed the identity of Michael Flynn.

The requests were made between President Trump’s November 2016 election and inauguration in January 2017, according to a declassified memo made public Wednesday.

The officials, which also included then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, then-Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan and others, were authorized to receive the reports, according to information contained in a memo from NSA Director Paul Nakasone dated May 4. The unmasking requests were approved through the NSA’s regular process, which includes a review of the justification for the request, the memo said.

Mr. Biden and Ms. Power didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Through a spokesman, Mr. Brennan declined to comment.

The officials wouldn’t have known Mr. Flynn’s identity until after receiving the unmasked reports from the NSA. Mr. Biden’s request to see an unmasked intercept occurred on Jan. 12, 2017, eight days before he left office.

Unmasking U.S. identities in intelligence reports is a fairly routine process that occurs thousands of times annually, according to statistics maintained by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and is requested by senior administration officials to better understand the context of intercepted conversations that are being reviewed.

The memo was released by two GOP senators: Ron Johnson (R., Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

Mr. Flynn resigned within weeks of President Trump’s 2017 inauguration after reports emerged he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about phone calls Mr. Flynn had with Russia’s ambassador to Washington shortly before President Trump took office.

By December 2017, Mr. Flynn had pleaded guilty to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about those calls, admitting he had misled the agents about whether he had asked Russia to moderate its response to sanctions levied by former President Obama in his last days in office.

Mr. Flynn’s defenders have long alleged he was a victim of abuses in the unmasking of names of U.S. citizens that are blacked out by intelligence officials to protect their privacy. Mr. Flynn’s allies have asserted his phone calls with the Russian ambassador in Washington in late 2016 were wrongly revealed and then weaponized through leaks to the press.

Mr. Flynn cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election but earlier this year asked to withdraw his previous guilty plea for lying to the FBI, arguing he had been set up by the FBI and entrapped by agents.

Last week, the Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that former FBI officials improperly sought to interview Mr. Flynn about his Russian interactions, both because they had been about to close an investigation into him and had deliberately failed to coordinate the interview with Justice Department officials.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-than-one-dozen-obama-officials-may-have-requested-unmasking-that-revealed-michael-flynn-in-intelligence-reports-11589396531?mod=breakingnews

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202771)

This one goes real deep. You've stumbled on something big. I would make sure you tell people you are not suicidal ASAP.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202873)

Hopefully you dont keep sleuthing these things out and put a stop to it! You wily rascal ;-)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202898)

The rot goes really deep! Is Breitbart and OANN also ShareBlue?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202905)

i offer this thought not because i think it's correct but rather because i'm looking to sort through the fog of confusion and would appreciate being corrected about this.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40202947)

actually this guy. lots of digressions about the strawberries in the locker but he's been correct on a lot of things that were not being discussed by anyone in the mainstream media. so i can't cite him IRL and have to be careful citing him here.

my sole point right now is that "unmasking" may not pertain to Flynn per se, but the other unmaskings that are about to be revealed were almost certainly felonies.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/05/13/dni-grenell-releases-names-of-obama-officials-who-requested-unmasking-of-nsa-reports-containing-michael-flynn/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40203988)

Of course they knew it was Mike Flynn. They had a transcript of the entire call (as well as a recording). Are libs insinuating that Flynn was using code names or a voice modifier on this call?

What actually happened: They couldn't leak the actual call because that would lead to someone going to jail. But they could use DOJ voodoo to unmask Flynn and then drip media leaks of 1) someone talked to Russians before Trump sworn in, 2) caller unmasked as Mike Flynn, 3) FBI agents investigating Flynn over Russian call, with the same effect if not better.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40203766)

The officials wouldn’t have known Mr. Flynn’s identity until after receiving the unmasked reports from the NSA. Mr. Biden’s request to see an unmasked intercept occurred on Jan. 12, 2017, eight days before he left office.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4533560&forum_id=2#40204587)