Whipped this up earlier, will have to be in 2 posts b/c about 2,900 characters:
Why the unmasking of General Flynn Matters
In the frenzy of unmaskings by Obama administration officials in the waning days of his presidency, the majority of those officials had no 'need to know' who the American citizen was on the call record in the NSA database. Neither was their unmasking the American citizen's name for the purpose of creating an 'intelligence product.'
While those are unusual and unwarranted acts, they are not, in and of themselves, illegal. What was illegal was leaking the American citizen's on that phone call name to the media. That person's name was classified.
The Obama administration sought out staff leakers and punished leakers more than any other in US history, according to the Washington Post [1], even to the point of using lie-detector tests on staff [2]. The irony of the same administration accessing and leaking classified information to the media at the last moment is palpable.
The leak of General Flynn's name to friendly media was strategically timed and to a certain effect: to poison the good name and reputation of a lifelong patriot who served America for 33 years in the US Army, and to set into motion the plan to overthrow the incoming president.
Once General Flynn's name was published in obsequious media, connecting him with the Russians, and libeling him as a 'Russian asset' in Trump's incoming administration, the stage was set. As one, on cue, worldwide media trumpeted the talking points that not only was Trump not fanatically against Russia, but he had advisors who were already plotting with Mr. Putin, to do what, none would say, but it had to be something nefarious.