Passport file snoopers ignored blunt warnings

By ANNE FLAHERTY and DESMOND BUTLET - The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Maybe it was just curiosity.

But whatever led State Department workers to pry into the passport files of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain, it wasn’t an accident.

Each time agency workers go into someone’s electronic personal files, the system reminds them that such information is restricted under privacy laws and may be reviewed only on a need-to-know basis. It also reminds them penalties will be imposed if the information is being checked improperly.

The warning wasn’t enough for at least four department workers who were caught prying into the presidential candidates’ files, an embarrassing episode that led Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to telephone the candidates with her personal apology Friday and to promise a full investigation.

The snooping incidents raised questions about possible political motivation and about why two contract employees 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.

Ironically, the Clinton administration got into trouble several years later when it was learned that it had obtained more than 400 FBI files with information on Republicans.

McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting, said there should be an investigation of the new snooping as well as an apology. Democrat Obama said Congress should investigate as well.

“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.

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,” she 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.”

At least four workers were involved in the snooping.

The State Department confirmed Thursday night that Obama’s files had been compromised on three separate 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.

Officials told The Associated Press the two fired employees worked for Stanley Inc., a Virginia-based firm that earlier this week won a five-year, $570-million government contract extension to support passport services.

According to one agency official, the first Stanley employee improperly gained access to Obama’s records on Jan. 9 and was fired within days. The second pried into similar records on Feb. 21 and also was fired.

Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday that a separate search conducted after the Obama revelation, first reported by the Washington Times, showed workers also had snooped on McCain and Clinton.

In Clinton’s case, someone got access to her file last summer as part of a training session. McCormack said the violation was recognized immediately and the person was admonished.

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.

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. Mukasey did not rule out the possibility of the Justice Department taking an independent look.

Passport files include personal information that Americans provide on their passport applications, such as Social Security numbers, dates of birth and full names. The data could be a rich mine for identity thieves.

McCormack said the employees who got access to the records were confronted, but added, “What didn’t happen is that information didn’t rise up to senior management levels so that we could be made aware of it.”

With Staff and Wire Reports