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Originally Posted by Robbie
This is like talking to a fence post.
The REASON THAT US CITIZENS ARE MASKED IN INCIDENTAL SURVEILLANCE IS BECAUSE THERE WOULD HAVE TO BE A FISA COURT WARRANT TO UNMASK THE OR PUT THEM UNDER SURVEILLANCE IN ANY WAY.
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Can you show me where this is a law?
If incidental surveillance turns up a potential crime, it becomes an investigation. At that point they do not mask names. The only reason there is any masking of names is protect privacy. When an investigation takes place, there is much less of a need to protect privacy. In very simple terms, if I am under investigation, there is not need to protect my privacy in reports.
You do not seem to understand the difference between incidental surveillance and an investigation. Allow me to explain it to you again.
If I call Russia and the NSA listens in, and they discover it is a routine business call they mask my name only because there is no reason to risk an invasion of my privacy when no crime was committed.
However, in the event of incidental surveillance that turns up a crime.... They don't mask anything because they are investigating a crime. They cannot investigate a crime if they cannot record the name of the person they are investigating.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robbie
AND NO NO NO NO...NUNES SAID THE TRANSCRIPTS HE READ HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR
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This story broke while I was at Phoenix Forum, so I am not sure what he said. Or what he saw. From what I've read he hasn't told us what he read or what he saw.
Here is exactly what he said:
First, I recently confirmed that on numerous occasions, the intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition. Details about persons associated with the incoming administration, details with little apparent foreign intelligence value were widely disseminated in intelligence community reporting. Third, I have confirmed that additional names of Trump transition team members were unmasked. And fourth and finally, I want to be clear, none of this surveillance was related to Russia, or the investigation of Russian activities, or of the Trump team.
This really doesn't tell us anything. We don't know who collected it, we don't know what was collected, who it was collected on, we don't know why it was collected, or what the information contained.
The statement itself doesn't even make sense and it contradicts itself. He said it involved "U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition" but then said "none of this surveillance was related to..... The Trump team".
This could be something as simple as someone on the Trump team made a phone call to China, it was caught up in incidental surveillance, and was unmasked for one of a dozen reasons.
We should have an investigation into this. It seems he viewed this classified information at the White House. Why was he allowed to see this information, who gave him access to it, who is handing out unmasked classified information, and why did this all happen at the White House?