April 17, 2017
Don’t Dismiss Concerns about Transition-Period Unmasking (At Least Not Yet)
The aftermath of the 2016 election has spun off yet another divisive issue: Whether White House officials inappropriately requested the identities of Trump transition aides whose names had been “masked” in classified intelligence reports. The kerfuffle over unmasking adds even more to the already heaping plates of congressional investigators currently probing Russian “active measures” and leaks of U.S.-person information collected under FISA.
A bit of background: Last Monday, Bloomberg’s Eli Lake reported that former Obama National Security Adviser “Susan Rice requested the identities of U.S. persons in raw intelligence reports on dozens of occasions that connect to the Donald Trump transition and campaign.” Then, on Wednesday, CNN poured at least some cold water on this, reporting that “Republican and Democratic lawmakers and aides” looking at Rice’s conduct “have so far found no evidence that Obama administration officials did anything unusual or illegal.”
Even assuming, however, that Rice and other officials did nothing unusual or illegal, it is too soon to dismiss the unmasking allegations as a non-story. The reason, broadly speaking, is that patterns of conduct permitted by the rules might nonetheless raise legitimate concerns—particularly during inter-party transitions, a sensitive time for our political system.
Read the full article at Lawfare.
More from CNAS
-
Can China’s Military Win the Tech War?
Commentary
The United States and its allies should take seriously Beijing’s efforts to militarize China’s technological base....
By Anja Manuel & Kathleen Hicks
-
Transcript from Emerging Concepts in Joint Command and Control
Transcript
On Wednesday, May 20, 2020, the CNAS Technology and National Security Program hosted a virtual panel discussion on emerging concepts in joint command and control featuring Hon...
By Robert O. Work, Chris Dougherty & Paul Scharre
-
What the government should or should not do to help space industry
Commentary
The COVID-19 economic slowdown will have lasting implications on the new space sector. Yet the United States cannot afford another lost decade of commercial space innovation. ...
By Mikhail Grinberg
-
Time for the US to declare independence from China
Commentary
Americans now know they can’t rely on China or even our allies to produce the goods we need during a pandemic. That’s why it’s time for the United States government to do what...
By Anthony Vinci & Dr. Nadia Schadlow
