The NSA's watchdog is reviewing Tucker Carlson's allegation that the agency spied on him, report says

tucker carlson rant jill biden — Fox News host Tucker Carlson
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The NSA's watchdog is reviewing Tucker Carlson's allegation that the agency spied on him, WSJ reported.
The review comes after Carlson accused the NSA of improperly intercepting his communications.
A previous review by the NSA found no evidence to support Carlson's claim.
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The National Security Agency's internal watchdog is reviewing Fox News host Tucker Carlson's allegation that the agency illegally spied on him, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Carlson claimed in early July that the NSA intercepted his communications as part of a politically motivated scheme to take his primetime show "off the air."

The agency reviewed its intercepts after Carlson made the allegation and did not find any evidence that his communications were intercepted, though one source told CNN that Carlson's name was picked up incidentally in third-party communications and that his name was unmasked.

"Unmasking" is a term the intelligence community uses that refers to revealing the identity of someone on a monitored communication.

US intelligence agencies frequently monitor the communications of foreign nationals, like businessmen and ambassadors, who operate on US soil. If a foreign individual is communicating with a US person, that person's name is "masked" in the report or transcript to protect their identity.

However, if an intelligence agency or official believe they need more context about the surveillance they've gathered, they can request that the identity of US persons be "unmasked."

NSA inspector general Robert Storch said in a statement on Tuesday that his review "is examining NSA's compliance with applicable legal authorities and agency policies and procedures regarding collection, analysis, reporting, and dissemination activities, including unmasking procedures, and whether any such actions were based upon improper considerations."

The announcement did not mention Carlson by name, but a person familiar with the matter told The Journal that the review centers around his allegations.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

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