Obama's passport file breached

[Mr. Sinister]

Link

2 fired over Obama passport file breach
Third employee at State disciplined over accessing candidate’s records

BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and news services
updated 9:22 p.m. ET, Thurs., March. 20, 2008

Two contract employees of the State Department were fired and a third person was disciplined for inappropriately looking at Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's passport file.

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.

"We believe this was out of imprudent curiosity, so we are taking steps to reassure ourselves that that is, in fact, the case," McCormack said.

Bill Burton, a spokesman for Obama's presidential campaign, called for a complete investigation.

"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," Burton said.

"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," he said.

"We briefed Senator Obama's office on this issue this afternoon," McCormack said. "That was when senior management first became aware of these incidents."

McCormack said it was not immediately clear what the contract employees may have seen in the records or what they were looking for. He said he did not know the names of the companies they worked for.

The department has informed Obama's Senate office of the breach, and a personal briefing for the senator's staff was scheduled for Friday, McCormack said.

A senior official told NBC News there was "no political motivation" to the incidents, adding that the three were low-level contract employees doing administrative work when they accessed Obama's records.

This official told NBC News that he does not believe any of the accessed information was sent anywhere.

Monitoring systems are tripped when an employee accesses the records of the high-profile individual, a department official told NBC News. "When the monitoring system is tripped, we immediately seek an explanation for the records access. If the explanation is not satisfactory, the supervisor is notified."

Explaining why the contractors had access to the files, the official said: "The State Department uses cleared contractors to design, build and maintain our systems and cleared contract employees provide support to government employees and several steps of passport processing including data entry, file searches, customer service and quality control.

"Each time an employee logs on, he or she acknowledges the records are protected by the privacy act and that they are only available on a need-to-know basis," the official added.

[brianeyci]

I was thinking about this, and it's either curious employees or someone hired to dig dirt on Obama.

Two good things is 1. it's likely they didn't find any dirt on him at all, dirt being any visits to any Muslim countries for any length of time (there's nothing wrong with visiting Muslim countries but you know what the implication is -- that he's a closet Muslim -- and conservotards would have found a way to twist and lie about it) and 2. it's an excellent distraction from the pastor story, since that was utter bullshit.

[FSTargetDrone]

Now it's being reported that both McCain and Clinton's passport files have been looked at:

Clinton, McCain passport records were also viewed

Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:22pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The passport files of presidential candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, and Sen. John McCain, a Republican, were improperly accessed by State Department workers, a U.S. official said on Friday.

The official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, declined further comment. On Thursday, the State Department said it had fired two employees and disciplined a third for having snooped in the passport files of Sen. Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat running for president.

And since that's such a short story, here is more about what exactly passport files are:

FAQ: The Obama breach: What exactly is a passport record?
Jaikumar Vijayan


March 21, 2008 (Computerworld) An admission late Thursday that three contract workers in the U.S. Department of State illegally accessed the passport records of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has sparked a firestorm of controversy. While State Department officials characterized the incident as the result of "imprudent curiosity," Obama's campaign spokesman called the breach an "outrageous breach of security and privacy." The breaches occurred Jan. 9, Feb. 12 and March 14, but were apparently not reported to higher-level State Department employees, who said they learned of the incidents just this week. The three workers, two of whom have been fired, have not yet been identified.

No sooner had that news broken than the State Department today had to admit that the files belonging to Sens. Hillary Clinton, (D-N.Y.), and John McCain, (R-Ariz.), had also been improperly accessed.

Just what sort of information did those contractors have access to? What records on the presidential candidates might they have seen? The State Department's own description of its passport record system offers some clues, as well as an indication of just how much data the government compiles on passport applicants.

What exactly is a passport record? A passport record typically consists of applications made by a person for a U.S. passport, together with supporting evidence of U.S. citizenship. The records include details such as date and place of birth, naturalization details, family status, occupation and physical characteristics. Passport records do not include evidence of travel, such as exit and entrance stamps, visas or residence permits. Passport records are protected by the Privacy Act of 1974.

Where are passport records stored? The records are maintained in a classified passport records system located at the State Department's Passport Services annex in Washington.

What individuals and records are covered by the system? The passport records system stores information about people who have applied for or have been issued a passport, or who have asked for an amendment to or renewal of a passport. It contains information on individuals whose passports have been denied, revoked or limited in some way, as well as data on individuals born outside of the country to U.S. citizens, or those who have applied for registration or were registered at U.S diplomatic or consular posts abroad. In addition to those categories of records, the system includes certificates of loss of U.S. nationality and records of death of American citizens abroad.

What else is in the system? In addition to passport applications and the related material, the system stores investigative reports that might have been compiled in connection with granting or denying a passport, or in connection with any violation of passport criminal statutes. It also stores court documents and administrative determinations related to passports and citizenship, as well as copies of birth and baptismal certificates, medical, personal and financial reports and details on arrest warrants of the person applying for, extending or renewing a passport and a person's Social Security number.

How is the information collected? Information comes from the passport applicant as well as law enforcement agencies, investigative and intelligence sources, and officials of foreign governments. The records are stored in paper or electronic format.

How is all this information used? Apart from helping to determine citizenship and eligibility for a passport, the information can be used for employment applications and estate settlements, and to determine Social Security benefits. It can also be used for federal and state law enforcement investigations. Records are retrieved using an individual's name or passport number.

Who uses the system? The information in the passport records system is used not only by the State Department, but also by the Internal Revenue Service; foreign governments (for immigration purposes); federal, state and local authorities; attorneys representing a client in a passport case; and in some cases, members of Congress. In addition, an individual's immediate family members can also ask for the information under the Privacy Act and the Freedom of Information Act.

How is the information protected? All records containing personal information at the State Department are kept in secured file cabinets or in restricted areas to which only authorized personnel have access. All employees and contractors accessing the system must undergo a background check and have valid identification cards. Databases containing personal data are password-protected and are the direct responsibility of the system manager or those reporting to him or her. Transaction logging capabilities allow a system manager to maintain an audit trail of all data access — thereby permitting ad hoc monitoring of computer usage. It was apparently just such a system that triggered an alert when Obama's records were viewed.