Susan Rice and unmasking of data

Recently a gentleman named Ken Dilanian wrote a piece that appeared on the NBC news website.  The title was "What is unmasking and did Susan Rice do anything wrong.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/what-unmasking-did-susan-rice-do-anything-wrong-n742476

Here is the email I sent to Mr. Dilanian after reading the article.

Mr. Dilanian:

I heard a reference to unmasking and did a search to see what the news was and came across your article. I have to say I'm amazed by what you wrote. You either completely missed the big picture or you deliberately picked one event out of pile and seized on a small point related to that event and were using it to distract people from the bigger picture.

The bigger picture clearly is that the revelation about Susan Rice unmasking data is the latest in a series of statements and revelations that suggests we have to investigate more deeply into President Trump's claim that President Obama's Administration was doing something wrong.  It's not conclusive, it's not a smoking gun, but it is compelling.

Point - Evelyn Farkas before the Election is hinting at having information about Donald Trump that will get him impeached should he be elected.  How did she know that?  What information did she have?  Where did she get it?  Were there plans for some effort to be made to impeach him?

Point - in January, the NY Times headline says Trump Officials were wiretapped - their term.  

Point - Mike Flynn is forced out due to leaks of intelligence information about meetings he had with Russian officials

Point - we continue to see classified information about Trump officials being leaked to the press. Question:  How could that happen if the data was masked?

Point - March 2, Evelyn Farkas says that she was telling people about the Trump intel and urging them to get copies fearing the Trump administration would cover it up

Point - March 22, Susan Rice goes on PBS Newshour and lies about knowing about the Trump intel

Point - Susan Rice tells Andrea Mitchell on your own network that demasking of data was a "routine" process - something your article clearly says it was not.

Point - we now have the President, a US Senator, and the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee all saying something is amiss here.

I'm sure that someone following the news closer than I could demonstrate many more items that add to the pile.

None of that conclusively says President Trump was right in his accusation of President Obama.  But as the saying goes, where there is smoke, there's fire.  A better article would have asked "Why was Susan Rice asking that data be demasked?"  "Demasking can only be done after folllowing a detailed process, why did Susan Rice say it was routine - was the process not followed?"  "Is demasking of the data tied to the leaks that are coming out?"  "Was there some plan to demask the data and later leak it to undermine the Trump Administration?"  

Unless you fall into the category of "Democrat Columnist" I don't see how you could have missed all the pieces of circumstantial evidence that clearly suggest we're smelling some smoke here and someone needs to investigate because maybe there is a fire after all.

Thanks for your consideration.

Note: In Mr. Dilanian's article he refers to another writer as a "Conservative Columnist."  Hence my use of the phrase "Democrat Columnist" to question whether he too has a bias as he accuses the other writer of having.