According to federal campaign records, Stanley's CEO, Philip Nolan, has made political contributions to prominent Republican candidates and also gave $1,000 to Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign on Feb. 20, 2008.
Passport scandal leads to Virginia contractor
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2008 4:07 PM PT
Filed Under: Politics
By Jim Popkin and Libby Leist, NBC News
Two of the government contractors who allegedly took a peek at Sen. Barack Obama's passport records worked for a Virginia-based firm called Stanley, Inc., according to U.S. government officials with knowledge of the State Department passport controversy.
Stanley, Inc., is headquartered in Arlington, Va. The State Department awarded it a contract for $164 million in 2006. The contract called for Stanley to print and mail millions of new U.S. passports. Stanley announced on Monday that it was awarded an additional $570 million contract to "continue support of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs/Passport Services Directorate."
NBC News contacted a Stanley, Inc., spokeswoman this afternoon, and informed her that two sources had confirmed that employees at her firm were involved with the scandal. The spokeswoman would only comment: "We've been directed by the State Department to direct all media calls to them."
The government officials tell NBC News that Stanley Inc. fired the two workers. A worker at a second contracting company, not related to Stanley, Inc., also allegedly took a look at the Obama files and those belonging to Sen. John McCain. That person has been disciplined but not yet been fired, State Department officials say.
One Stanley, Inc., contractor allegedly looked at Obama's passport records on January 9, and then a second Stanley employee allegedly took a peek at similar Obama records on February 21, the officials said. Stanley, Inc., fired both workers after the alleged security breaches were discovered, the officials added.
According to its website: "Stanley has approximately 3,500 employees at more than 100 locations in the U.S. and worldwide. Stanley offers a full-spectrum systems integration portfolio of services, providing comprehensive solutions for all phases of a program, product, or business lifecycle to meet each customer's mission-critical requirements."
After the State Department awarded the contract to Stanley in 2006, the firm announced it would build a new facility in Hot Springs, Ark., to handle the massive contract. Arkansas governor and former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee expressed his delight that the new building would be located in his state.
"We're excited to welcome the State Department and Stanley to Arkansas. After working with the company for the past year to secure this contract, we believe this will be a successful long-term public and private partnership with the people of Arkansas," Huckabee said at the time.
The Stanley, Inc., press release added: "Stanley currently delivers professional services, passport application processing services, technology support and logistics support to the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs/Passport Services Directorate. Since working with the State Department to establish the National Passport Center in Portsmouth, N.H., in 1992, Stanley has expanded its services to support operations at 17 locations nationwide."
It added: "Stanley is fully committed to supporting the Department of State. We welcome the opportunity to continue our long partnership with Passport Services and support their implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative," said Phil Nolan, Stanley's Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer."
According to federal campaign records, Stanley's CEO, Philip Nolan, has made political contributions to prominent Republican candidates and also gave $1,000 to Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign on Feb. 20, 2008.
--This posting was updated at 5 pm.
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