@revelette1,
I'll concede that's it's impossible to judge whether the "unmasking," in itself, was improper without the full context of the convo's where Rice demanded to know the identity of the redacted parties.
But, even if it was proper, did she "use, disseminate, disclose, or retain" that info without a court order? Chances seem very high that she did.
What is a known and indisputable fact is that Flynn's name, and the substance of his recorded conversations, ended up in the newspaper. This proves that "someone" committed a felony considered serious enough to warrant 10 years in prison. Who was that "someone?" We know Rice had the info, because she specifically requested it, reportedly on "dozens of occasions."
Attention to the procedure helps here. The FBI and the NSA are the primary "producers" of intelligence. They redact citizens names unless the identity is necessary to understand the significance of the convo. Rice is a mere "consumer" of intelligence info.
Rice would not have to "request" unmasking of any name unless the FBI had already decided, prima facie, that the name was irrelevant. Otherwise they would have included it in the report to begin with, rather than redacting it.
Again, Rice is just a partisan white house staffer, not an investigative agency. She does no investigation, she just consumes. The FBI and/or the NSA, who ARE responsible for investigating crime, collecting foreign intelligence, etc. did not think the names were significant.
So what reason(s), apart from political, would she have for demanding the unmasking of the identity? If the FBI thought it was significant, for reasons of either foreign intelligence or domestic crime, they would pursue it. They didn't.
FISA is STRICTLY for accumulating information about FOREIGN agents. It issues warrants in secret and those warrants are themselves classified info. Hence the strict provisions designed to protect FISA warrants from being used for domestic surveillance, and the extensive procedures adopted to protect the identities of U.S. citizens.
If a U.S. citizen is suspected of a crime, the FBI has to get a warrant from a regular criminal court, NOT from FISA, which targets the suspected criminal.. Any attempt to pervert FISA warrants into a substitutes for a regular warrants is prohibited.