I am a bit surprised by these things happening the way they have. I would figure that Barr would not have gone down these roads had he anticipated coming up completely empty by election day. Perhaps the initial PR and establishment of narrative was all that mattered.
Realistically, the Obama administration recognized that Russia's response to Obama-admin sanctions in wake of election interference were completely different than the expected tit-for-tat pattern of official foreign relations with Russia, and this marked difference came at a critical juncture. Of course the State department, President, Pentagon, etc. all needed to be heavily interested in Russia's response to the imposition of sanctions following an act of aggression toward the US. It would be completely ridiculous for them to give up their jobs and let the Trump admin take over without even providing the most solid intelligence they possibly could at the time.
It is also of zero concern whatsoever that Kislyak's conversations were being monitored by the intelligence community. Flynn was in no way a target. He only became relevant because he discussed the sanctions with the Russian Ambassador without any coordination with the administration.
So when the intelligence community hands you a report on said activity that identifies an individual as "US Person", it is extremely difficult to do your job to act upon the intelligence if you don't know who that person is. You don't even know if "US Person" in one report is the same "US Person" in another report or potentially even the same person referenced multiple times in one report.
But since these reports are distributed more widely, it's important to mask identities. Not because the intelligence community thinks that unmasking individuals should never happen. But because they want to ensure that only people who should know the identity of said US Persons are the ones who have access to it because it is essential to their job.
Masking and unmasking of US Persons in intelligence reports is a ubiquitous
daily function, not some rare phenomenon that raises eyebrows every time it happens.
How often does it happen?
About
16 times per day, on average.
Here's a fun chart:
Funny enough, unmasking of US Persons in intelligence reports appears to be
higher under Trump.
But isn't that always the case with Trump? Investigate and prosecute (if only metaphorically) your enemies for the exact things you are guilty of yourself?
Here's a fun fact: Fred Trump had falsely claimed Swedish ancestry in the wake of WWII anti-German sentiment, a claim embraced by the Trump family and repeated in the Art of the Deal. Of course, since Trump has been President he has made instrumental claims that his dad was born in Germany to try and leverage NATO allies, etc. I wonder how he got this idea that Obama is a secret Kenyan Muslim. Of course, the Muslim part isn't an ancestral claim. I wonder where Trump would have gotten the idea that someone else was a fake Christian...