Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has told Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama that their passport files have been breached. The department said it is not clear whether the employees saw anything other than the basic personal data such as the name, citizenship, age and place of birth which is required when a person fills out a passport application.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has told Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama that their passport files have been breached. The department is still investigating the particular matter to determine whether political or other motives were involved. For now, the State Department finds the breach no more than curiosity by three employees until the investigation is complete. Two contract employees for the State Department have been terminated and a third disciplined for view the passport files. The department said it is not clear whether the employees saw anything other than the basic personal data such as the name, citizenship, age and place of birth which is required when a person fills out a passport application. A regular routine computer check detected the breach. High-profile people, are flagged with a computer tag that tips off supervisors when files are viewed without a proper reason or permission by officials. The names of those fired and disciplined were not released.
By: Michael Stevens
Mar 21, 2008, 12:49 PM EDT
Two contract employees for the State Department have been terminated and a third disciplined for inappropriately looking at Barack Obama's passport file. In addition, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Hillary Hillary Clinton that her passport file was breached in 2007. The department is still investigating the particular matter to determine whether political or other motives were involved. For now, the State Department finds the breach "imprudent curiosity" by three employees until the investigation is complete. Rice also spoke with Obama by phone and apologized. "I told him that I was sorry, and I told him that I myself would be very disturbed," Rice said. "None of us wants to have a circumstance where any American's passport files are looked at in an unauthorized way," she said.
Rice stated that she was particularly disappointed that senior officials at the State Department were not immediately notified. Spokesman Sean McCormack said it is not clear whether the employees saw anything other than the basic personal data such as the name, citizenship, age and place of birth which is required when a person fills out a passport application. Obama's passport breach reportedly occurred on January 9, February 21 and March 14. A regular routine computer check by the State Department detected the breach. High-profile people, such as Obama and Clinton, are flagged with a computer tag that tips off supervisors when files are viewed without a proper reason or permission by officials. The names of those fired and disciplined were not released. Source: NewsOXY.com Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama Passport Investigation
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