Swift Comments on Proposed Changes in ‘Unmasking’ Policy

Partner Christopher Swift is quoted in a U.S. News & World Report article, “Exclusive: U.S. Spy Chief Orders Changes in ‘Unmasking’ Policy,” about a proposal by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats to impose tighter restrictions on how the names of Americans kept secret in intelligence reports can be revealed during presidential transitions.

Swift said it appears that the Trump administration, which has drafted a presidential order to the same effect, is trying to streamline, systematize and memorialize the unmasking process. “But these same procedures might also be used to identify pending national security investigations and insert the White house into these decisions,” he said.