Executive Branch
State Dept. Fires 2 for Peeping Into Barack Obama’s Passport File
Posted Mar 20, 2008, 08:34 pm CDT
By Martha Neil
The U.S. Department of State has fired two contract workers and disciplined a third for looking through Sen. Barack Obama's passport file without good reason.
The department itself detected the unauthorized activity, which occurred on three days in January, February and March, reports the Associated Press. The article doesn't explain what alerted government officials to the intrusion.
"We believe this was out of imprudent curiosity, so we are taking steps to reassure ourselves that that is, in fact, the case," says Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the state department.
Bill Burton, a spokesman for Obama's presidential campaign, expressed outrage and demanded a further explanation of who looked at the passport file, what they hoped to find and why the security breach is only now being reported.
"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," he says. "Our government's duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes."
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