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"The last time a Democratic presidential candidate’s passport records were rifled by a Republican administration – in 1992 – it led to a bigger investigation".
"Joseph diGenova, a former U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., was appointed independent counsel in December 1992. Then, it was a high-ranking State Department official, acting assistant secretary for legislative affairs Steven K. Berry, who had gone through Clinton’s passport files during the election campaign".
Not surprising that when his happened before to Bill Clinton it was also during Bush administration, George H W Bush.
At this point, even though I'm an Obama supporter I'm starting to think that maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea for Barack Obama to become our next President, not because I don't think he'd make a great President but because I fear for his own personal safety.
I've always known that the Republicans were no good dirty rotten underhanded thugs but this takes the cake even for them.
We might as well face it, our election system is rigged, just like it was in 2000 and just like it was in 2004 and they're going to see to that McCain is "elected" President no matter what.
Obama passport history
Obama's passport records rifled, probe promised
Obama passport, obama passport breach, obama s passport, barack obama passport, obama passport file, breached
Someone has been going through Sen. Barack Obama’s passport files at the State Department, and two have been fired for their “imprudent curiosity.’’
The State Department says its inspector general will investigate.
But to some, the episode sounds eerily reminiscent of the time that someone went through fomer President Bill Clinton’s passport files looking for damaging information – during the 1992 presidential election campaign.
And the fact that two contract workers already have been fired in Obamaport will prevent the State Department from investigating them, says the former federal prosecutor who served as special counsel in the investigation of the Clinton passport search. A third worker has been disciplined, State says.
The incidents of “imprudent curiosity’’ about Obama’s records occurred as recently as last week – on Mar. 14 – State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said today. The other dates: Jan. 9 and Feb. 21. The agency was not releasing the names of the two contract workers fired or the third worker disciplined or the company that employed them.
“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, adding that it was not immediately clear what the contract workers were looking for.
Bill Burton, an Obama campaign spokesman, 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. “We demand to know who looked at Sen. Obama's passport file, for what purpose, and why it took so long for them to reveal this security breach.’’
The last time a Democratic presidential candidate’s passport records were rifled by a Republican administration – in 1992 – it led to a bigger investigation.
Joseph diGenova, a former U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., was appointed independent counsel in December 1992. Then, it was a high-ranking State Department official, acting assistant secretary for legislative affairs Steven K. Berry, who had gone through Clinton’s passport files during the election campaign.
State’s inspector general, Sherman Funk, said Berry had helped arrange a search in an effort to find politically damaging information about Clinton.
This time, the State Department said today, only now is the inspector general going to look into a case which first involved some illegal “curiosity’’ in January.
But diGenova said in interviews with MSNBCand CNN this evening that the fact that two employees of outside firms have been fired will prevent State’s inspector general from forcing them to talk because they are no longer government employees.
The former independent counsel also suggested that a failure to start investigating the newest breach sooner suggests “gross incompetence.’’ DiGenova told CNN: "This looks like, for the moment, big government gone wild at the lowest levels.''
Obama passport
Obama passport, obama passport breach, obama s passport, barack obama passport, obama passport file, breached
The State Department said Thursday it had fired two employees and punished a third for looking at White House hopeful Barack Obama's passport files without appropriate authorization.
Obama's campaign called the breach of security an "outrageous" invasion of privacy and demanded a full probe.
"These unauthorized accesses were detected by the State Department and they were immediately acted upon," said undersecretary Pat Kennedy, adding that the incidents took place at separate times in January, February and March.
"However, we are taking immediate steps to be able to assure ourselves that it is nothing more than imprudent curiosity," Kennedy told reporters.
"In each of these cases, the unauthorized access was caught by a monitoring system. When the monitoring system is tripped we immediately seek an explanation for the record access, and that is the case in each of the individual cases."
Spokesman Sean McCormack said the department's initial take was that it was a matter of "imprudent curiosity," and that an investigation had been launched into what was done with the information accessed.
"That is our initial take on the matter," McCormack said. He declined to say whether the information had made its way out of the State Department but added: "We are not being dismissive of any other possibility."
Kennedy said that "in two cases the employees were immediately terminated, the third was disciplined."
He gave no details on what was contained in the files other than that they "normally ... would be an application for a passport," and refused to disclose the locations where the breaches took place.
The Illinois senator's campaign spokesman issued a scathing statement, admonishing the administration of President George W. Bush for showing "little regard" for citizens' rights.
"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," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.
"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," said Burton.
"Our government's duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes."
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democrat Joseph Biden, said the passport breach left him "deeply troubled," and urged Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "to promptly refer this matter to the State Department Inspector General for investigation."
State Department officials were to meet with staff from Obama's campaign on Friday to discuss the matter.
McCormack said Rice "had a lot of questions about the system ... and she wanted to make sure we did a full investigation of the matter."
