Any news on the NSA data breach? Will we ever hear who was exposed? When exactly did Judge Collyer order that the court be provided the names of those targeted by the spying?
Adm. Mike Rogers, as director of the NSA, conducted the audit of the classified systems under his command and furnished un-redacted information to Collyer, who was privileged to know. He also provided other information – we don’t know exactly what – to Candidate Trump. In both cases Adm. Rogers was fulfilling his duty to the people most directly affected by what he had found.
Judge Collyer’s order describes the situation but does not name (un-redacted) names. We can surmise from other recent headlines that these same audit trails are identifying other people by name: undoubtedly, audits are happening all over the place, but they also are classified.
But – don’t look for all of this juicy information to be REVEALED to the public. I think that there are pretty sound arguments to be made that this is not what ought to be done. Mr. Barr has the authority to “declassify” material, e.g. so that it can be legally shown to a grand jury, but “declassify” does not mean “reveal.” And the materials, even if declassified, might still be redacted to protect confidential information. The fact that we are anxious to know – does not mean that we’ll get to.