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Obama passport files violated; 2 State Dept workers fired
2008-03-21
Two State Department employees were fired recently and a third disciplined for improperly accessing electronic personal data on Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, Bush administration officials said yesterday. The officials, all contract workers, used their authorized computer network access to look up files within the department's consular affairs section, which processes and stores passport information, and read Mr. Obama's passport application and other records, in violation of department privacy rules, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was notified of the security breach yesterday, and responded by saying security measures used to monitor records of high-profile Americans worked properly in detecting the breaches.

Mr. McCormack said the officials did not appear to be seeking information on behalf of any political candidate or party. "As far as we can tell, in each of the three cases, it was imprudent curiosity," Mr. McCormack told The Washington Times.
Posted by:Steve White

#9  Oopsie on #2 above. Wishful thinking and was way past my bedtime lol. Oh well. She's still a Clinton appointee :)

My apologies all (and Ms. Harty if you are reading this).
Posted by: ClemScheck   2008-03-21 18:14  

#8  Sandy Burglar is now advising Hillary Clinton on national security matters. LINK HERE
Gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling about how these people are continually recycled.......like sewage in an ocean outfall.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2008-03-21 15:44  

#7  Looks like the three of them got hit.

WASHINGTON - The passport files of the three presidential candidates — Sens. Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain — have been breached, the State Department said Friday.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the breaches of McCain and Clinton's passport files were not discovered until Friday, after officials were made aware of the privacy violation regarding Obama's records and a separate search was conducted.

McCormack said the individual who accessed Obama's files also reviewed McCain's file earlier this year. This contract employee has been reprimanded, but not fired. The individual no longer has access to passport records, he said.

"We are reviewing our options with respect to that person and his employment status," McCormack said.

In Clinton's case, an individual last summer accessed her file as part of a training session involving another State Department worker. McCormack said the one-time violation was immediately recognized and the person was admonished.
Posted by: tu3031   2008-03-21 13:19  

#6  Where is Sandy these days?
Posted by: Skunky Glins5285   2008-03-21 09:14  

#5  You peek at a file and get fired. You leak classified information to the NYT et al, and you're a media hero.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2008-03-21 09:06  

#4  Jim Geraghty, National Review:

A little while back, the Hillary campaign — specifically Lee Feinstein, the campaign's national security director, asked a question:

As voters evaluate you as a potential Commander-in-Chief, do you think it's legitimate for people to be concerned that you have traveled to only one NATO country, on a brief stopover trip in 2005, and have never traveled to Latin America?

I remember hearing their charge that Obama had only visited one NATO country in his life and it seemed pretty hard to believe... out of countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, etc., Obama had only been to one? The boy who grew up in Indonesia, and visited relatives in Africa, never made it to any of those European countries? The guy who lived in Chicago and went to Harvard never made it to Canada? (I presume Canada wasn't the site of the brief stopover trip.)

Now, I'm not saying that the Hillary camp did the snooping in the passport file. But in asking that question, they seemed awfully certain that Obama had never been to one of those countries earlier in his life, didn't they? Note they didn't say, "you have traveled to only one NATO country as a senator", (it wouldn't be all that surprising that Obama had only taken a few foreign trips since taking office in January 2005); they worded the question so that it encompasses his entire life.

The question came from the Hillary camp on March 12; two of the breaches were before that date. One breach occurred two days later.

Hmmm...
Posted by: Mike   2008-03-21 06:02  

#3  This is verrrry interesting, too. (Found it on HotAir).

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2007/12/29/obama_europe/

Look at the last paragraph - "all Obama has to do is release his passport info."
Posted by: ClemScheck   2008-03-21 02:28  

#2  It was a Clinton operative - surprise, surprise. Maura Harty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maura_Harty
Not clear that Ms. Harty is a Clinton operative from the wiki article. In fact, she seems to be more of a career diplomat. Nothing wrong with that. AoS.
Posted by: ClemScheck   2008-03-21 02:18  

#1  I'd like to see BO's wife's thesis violated/hacked into. It will remain sealed until after the election supposidly.

link
Posted by: Jan   2008-03-21 00:17  

00:01