[criley2]

That is not the case, and it seems like you've been misled. It's completely routine and legal for unmasking to occur, and in fact is integral to understanding the intelligence.

How could an analyst understand the conversation without knowing both parties?

My understanding is that some 10,000 legal unmaskings occur per year, and Gen Flynn and Tucker's unmasking were both routine, legal, and integral to analyzing the intelligence

When one considers the litany of crimes the disgraced lunatic Flynn committed, it's no wonder he got caught up in collection and that his identity was important to understanding the collection!