For you fags that don’t know what ‘unmasking’ is:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/04/what-unmasking-how-intelligence-agencies-treat-us-citizens/100026368/

There’s some great “future proves past” Nunes information also.

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.

Exceptions to the rule

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."

Who can 'unmask?'

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.