State Department Employees Fired For Snooping Obama Passport
Friday, March 21, 2008
CAMPAIGN NEWS
usnews.com
The Washington Times reports on its front page this morning that a pair of State Department employees were fired recently and a third was "disciplined" for "improperly accessing electronic personal data" on Sen. Barack Obama. The employees "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." The AP reports State Department spokesman Sean McCormack "said the department itself detected the instances of 'imprudent curiosity,' which occurred separately on Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14. He would not release the names of those who were fired and disciplined."
The Washington Post reports Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement, "This is an outrageous breach of security and privacy, even from an administration that has shown little regard for either over the last eight years. ... This is a serious matter that merits a complete investigation, and we demand to know who looked at Senator Obama's passport file, for what purpose, and why it took so long for them to reveal this security breach."
USA Today notes "the disclosure recalled an episode late in the 1992 presidential campaign when an assistant secretary of State was fired for a search of Bill Clinton's passport files. After an investigation, State Department Inspector General Sherman Funk said that breach was made in an attempt to 'influence the outcome of a presidential election.'" |
