McCain, Clinton, Obama passports breached
WASHINGTON (AP) - March 21, 2008 The snooping incidents raised questions as to whether there was
political motivation and why two contractors involved were fired
before investigators had a chance to interview them. The State
Department's inspector general was probing, with the Justice
Department monitoring the effort, but Obama said that was not
enough. He urged congressional involvement "so it's not simply an
internal matter."
The unauthorized digging into electronic government files on
politicians recalled a 1992 case in which a Republican political
appointee at the State Department was demoted for searching Bill
Clinton's passport records when Clinton was running against
President George H.W. Bush.
McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting, said there should be
an investigation of the new snooping as well as an apology.
Democrat Obama said that better include Congress, not just Bush
administration investigators.
"When you have not just one but a series of attempts to tap
into people's personal records, that's a problem not just for me
but for how our government functions," Obama told reporters in
Portland, Ore., where he was campaigning. "I expect a full and
thorough investigation. It should be done in conjunction with those
congressional committees that have oversight function so it's not
simply an internal matter."
Rice was apologetic in public as well as in her private phone
calls to the candidates.
"None of us wants to have a circumstance in which any
American's passport file is looked at in an unauthorized way," the
secretary of state said after speaking with Obama.
"I told him that I was sorry, and I told him that I, myself,
would be very disturbed if I learned that somebody had looked into
my passport file," she added. "And therefore, I will stay on top
of it and get to the bottom of it."
In all, at least four workers were involved in the snooping.
The State Department confirmed Thursday night that Obama's files
had been compromised on three occasions - Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and as
recently as last week, on March 14. By the time senior officials
were made aware, two contract employees had been fired and a third
disciplined, agency officials said.
The firings could make it more difficult for the State
Department to force them to answer questions. Unless they agree to
comply, they would have to be served with a grand jury subpoena
compelling them to testify before a grand jury.
The companies that provided the contractors were The Analysis
Corp. and Stanley Inc. Stanley, based in Arlington, Va., this week
won a five-year, $570-million government contract extension to
support passport services.
According to agency officials, a Stanley employee improperly
accessed Obama's records on Jan. 9 and was fired within days. The
second contractor, employed by The Analysis Corp., pried into
similar records on Feb. 21 but was not terminated. The third
incident involved another Stanley employee, who was swiftly fired.
In a statement, Stanley said it regretted the "rare
occurrence" of unauthorized access of any individual's private
information. When it fired the two subcontractors involved in
accessing the Obama files, terminating them the day the incident
was discovered, Stanley was not aware of others performing
unauthorized searches of McCain or Clinton's files, the company
said.
The Analysis Corp., or TAC, issued a statement late Friday
saying it had been notified earlier in the day that one of its
contractors had acted improperly.
The company said it had decided to honor the department's
request to delay firing its consultant in order to give
investigators time to conduct its investigation.
"This individual's actions were taken without the knowledge or
direction of anyone at TAC and are wholly inconsistent with our
professional and ethical standards," wrote the company, based in
McLean, Va.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday that a
separate search conducted after the Obama revelation showed that
workers also had snooped on McCain and Clinton.
The worker who had been reprimanded in the Obama incident had
also reviewed McCain's records earlier this year, McCormack said.
While the employee has not been fired, that person no longer has
access to passport files, he said.
"I can assure you that person's going to be at the top of the
list of the inspector general when they talk to people, and we are
currently reviewing our (disciplinary) options with respect to that
person," McCormack said.
In Clinton's case, someone accessed her file last summer as part
of a training session involving another State Department worker.
McCormack said the violation was immediately recognized and the
person was admonished. That person was not involved in the later
incidents, meaning four people were involved in all.
The department's internal computer system "flags" certain
records, including those of high-profile people, to tip off
supervisors when someone tries to view the records without an
appropriate reason.
McCormack said an early review of the incidents points to
workers' "imprudent curiosity" more than something more sinister.
But "we are not dismissive of any other possibility, and that's
the reason why we have an investigation under way," he said.
Former independent counsel Joseph diGenova, who investigated the
1992 scandal, said the firings of the two contract employees will
make the investigation more difficult because the inspector general
can't compel them to talk.
"My guess is if he tries to talk to them now, in all likelihood
they will take the Fifth," diGenova said, referring to the Fifth
Amendment's protection against self-incrimination.
Likewise, Patrick Kennedy, the top management official at the
State Department, briefed the candidates' staffs on Capitol Hill,
then said to reporters, "The State Department has very, very
rigorous rules about controls and access for privacy material. We
review them regularly, and we have a large organization with a lot
of people in it. Mistakes and errors happen from time to time. ...
We caught these and we've got to work and correct that process."
Attorney General Michael Mukasey said the case has not yet been
referred to the Justice Department for investigation, and indicated
prosecutors were likely to wait until the State Department's
inspector general concludes that inquiry. But Mukasey did not rule
out the possibility of the Justice Department taking an independent
look.
McCain, who was in Paris on Friday, said any breach of passport
privacy deserves action.
"The United States of America values everyone's privacy, and
corrective action should be taken," he said.
It was not clear whether the employees saw anything other than
the basic personal data such as name, citizenship, age, Social
Security number and place of birth, which is required when someone
fills out a passport application.
The file also includes date and place of birth and address at
time of application. Agency officials said the files generally
would not list countries the person has traveled to.
"It is worth noting that that earlier situation (in 1992) also
was characterized as isolated and nonpolitical when the news
initially emerged," said Howard Berman, D-Calif., chairman of the
House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"This time, as then, Congress will pay close attention to the
depth of executive branch involvement in the rifling of
presidential candidates' passport files," he added.
The Washington Times first reported the incident involving
Obama.
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Associated Press reporter Dan Caterinicchia contributed to this
report.