Circa: IC unmasks members of Congress at least once per month

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The U.S. government’s foreign surveillance sweeps up American lawmakers and their staffers so routinely now that Congress is alerted as often as once a month that its employees involved in intercepted conversations have been unmasked and their identities shared with intelligence or law enforcement agencies, Circa has learned.

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The notifications are just one of many growing signs that what once was considered a rare event inside the intelligence community -- the unmasking of a conversation involving Americans captured overseas by the National Security Agency or the FBI under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- is now becoming more widespread after President Obama lowered the thresholds and privacy protections for such sharing starting in 2011.

The NSA is authorized to spy on foreign powers without a court warrant under Section 702 of the FISA law.

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