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State Department Launches Internal Investigation Over Obama Passport Breach
by FOXNews.com
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Barack Obama speaks in Beckley, W.Va., Thursday. His campaign later called for a full investigation into reports that his passport records were breached at the State Department.
The State Department has launched an internal investigation into a breach of Barack Obama?s passport records, which prompted the department to fire two contract employees and discipline a third.
Obama?s campaign called the news ?outrageous? and demanded the department find out why the Illinois senator?s files were accessed and why it took so long to reveal the breach.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack on Thursday confirmed instances of what he called ?imprudent curiosity? by the employees. McCormack said the department itself detected the breaches, which occurred separately on Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14.
But on a phone call with reporters, he said senior management only became aware of the breach Thursday. He said the discovery ?should have been passed up the line? to senior management earlier.
The department?s inspector general launched an investigation Thursday, McCormack said.
The Washington Times reports that the fired officials used their authorized network access to look up and read Obama?s passport application and other records.
Department Under Secretary Pat Kennedy told reporters the three employees were supposed to use their access for specific tasks, adding, ?They violated that trust and they were caught in the monitoring system that we have.?
He said there?s an ?ongoing review,? but he would not release any more details about what those employees did for the department, nor their identities. He said there?s no reason to believe the contractors disclosed what they saw in the passport records to anyone else, but that that is also under review.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton issued a stern statement Thursday night, saying: ?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. Our government?s duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes.
?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.?
McCormack said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, briefed on the matter Thursday afternoon, pressed for the investigation.
He said it was not immediately clear what the contract employees may have seen in the records or what they were looking for.
The department informed Obama?s Senate office of the breach, and a personal briefing for the Illinois senator?s staff was scheduled for Friday, McCormack said.
Similar breaches involving public officials have happened in the past.
During the 1992 presidential campaign, officials in the administration of President George H.W. Bush searched the State Department files of then-Democratic nominee Bill Clinton. An inspector general?s report called the search improper and said it was aimed at finding material that would be damaging to Clinton?s campaign.
After a three-year investigation costing $2.2 million, independent counsel Joseph diGenova concluded in a separate report that some of the actions investigated had been ?stupid, dumb and partisan? but not criminal.
Click here to read the story in The Washington Times.
FOX News? Nina Donaghy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Why such a harsh public backlash if nothing untoward occured?
They should not have done it, but they did, so what did they find?
by FOXNews.com
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Barack Obama speaks in Beckley, W.Va., Thursday. His campaign later called for a full investigation into reports that his passport records were breached at the State Department.
The State Department has launched an internal investigation into a breach of Barack Obama?s passport records, which prompted the department to fire two contract employees and discipline a third.
Obama?s campaign called the news ?outrageous? and demanded the department find out why the Illinois senator?s files were accessed and why it took so long to reveal the breach.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack on Thursday confirmed instances of what he called ?imprudent curiosity? by the employees. McCormack said the department itself detected the breaches, which occurred separately on Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14.
But on a phone call with reporters, he said senior management only became aware of the breach Thursday. He said the discovery ?should have been passed up the line? to senior management earlier.
The department?s inspector general launched an investigation Thursday, McCormack said.
The Washington Times reports that the fired officials used their authorized network access to look up and read Obama?s passport application and other records.
Department Under Secretary Pat Kennedy told reporters the three employees were supposed to use their access for specific tasks, adding, ?They violated that trust and they were caught in the monitoring system that we have.?
He said there?s an ?ongoing review,? but he would not release any more details about what those employees did for the department, nor their identities. He said there?s no reason to believe the contractors disclosed what they saw in the passport records to anyone else, but that that is also under review.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton issued a stern statement Thursday night, saying: ?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. Our government?s duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes.
?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.?
McCormack said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, briefed on the matter Thursday afternoon, pressed for the investigation.
He said it was not immediately clear what the contract employees may have seen in the records or what they were looking for.
The department informed Obama?s Senate office of the breach, and a personal briefing for the Illinois senator?s staff was scheduled for Friday, McCormack said.
Similar breaches involving public officials have happened in the past.
During the 1992 presidential campaign, officials in the administration of President George H.W. Bush searched the State Department files of then-Democratic nominee Bill Clinton. An inspector general?s report called the search improper and said it was aimed at finding material that would be damaging to Clinton?s campaign.
After a three-year investigation costing $2.2 million, independent counsel Joseph diGenova concluded in a separate report that some of the actions investigated had been ?stupid, dumb and partisan? but not criminal.
Click here to read the story in The Washington Times.
FOX News? Nina Donaghy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Why such a harsh public backlash if nothing untoward occured?
They should not have done it, but they did, so what did they find?
