Obama passport breach.

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kittinSol -> Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 6:10:52 AM)
Motive sought for Obama passport breach By Anne Gearan WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department says it is trying to determine whether three contract workers had a political motive for looking at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's passport file. Two of the employees were fired for the security breach and the third was disciplined but is still working, the department said Thursday night. It would not release the names of those who were fired and disciplined or the names of the two companies for which they worked. The department's inspector general is investigating. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that for now it appears that nothing other than "imprudent curiosity" was involved in three separate breaches of the Illinois senator's personal information, "but we are taking steps to reassure ourselves that that is, in fact, the case." It is not clear whether the employees saw anything other than the basic personal data such as name, citizenship, age and place of birth that is required when a person fills out a passport application. 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," Burton said. "Our government's duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes." http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iFJ3vNfsH1Ul0kYvcB7RllkSx71gD8VHM6CO0

Real0ne -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 6:27:06 AM)
Now our candidates need to have their past kept secret eh? The government is behind PROTECTING their personal secrets too eh? To bad we were not smart enough to find out that monkey boys gdaddy was a freaking nazi before we put him in. How abnout mcain? Why was his nickname "the songbird"? How about the clintons with their little drug cartel? The real question is how does america continually find people from the bottom of the gene pool? Why do we accept this secrecy in government? When will we wise up and vote our conscience instead of voting party lines?

celticlord2112 -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 6:34:54 AM)
One point that is minimally treated in that article is that the staffers involved were disciplined at the office level. It was essentially their immediate supervisor (or reasonably close supervisor in the chain of command) who fired two men and disciplined a third. While there is criticism to be had for not reporting the offense up the chain of command, that the two men were fired without political pressure from above or from outside does indicate that, in this one instance at least, the State Deparment is able to police itself.

Sanity -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 6:35:45 AM)
I wonder why the Obama people are so enraged by this. Sure it's wrong, but they do protest too much... and so I'm curious now, what could they be hiding? If it were me, and someone were looking at my passport records I'd be nonchalant about it. I'd be perfectly willing to let law enforcement take its course. After all, I have nothing to hide, no worries at all. But the Obama campaign is clearly overreacting.

kittinSol -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 6:36:30 AM)
I find this incident troubling. How safe are those outside contractors when they handle delicate personal information? It's also a personal concern: much of my paperwork is handled by outsourced private agencies, contracted to do the government's work. Who's to tell me they respect the confidentiality of the information? I think a serious investigation is warranted - this is a dreadful state of affairs.

KenDckey -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 6:40:07 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Sanity I wonder why the Obama people are so enraged by this. Sure it's wrong, but they do protest too much... and so I'm curious now, what could they be hiding? If it were me, and someone were looking at my passport records I'd be nonchalant about it. I'd be perfectly willing to let law enforcement take its course. After all, I have nothing to hide, no worries at all. But the Obama campaign is clearly overreacting. Could be like Watergate. It isn't the fact so much as the principle and who could potentially be behind it and for what purpose.

kittinSol -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 6:57:58 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: KenDckey [Could be like Watergate. It isn't the fact so much as the principle and who could potentially be behind it and for what purpose. Watergate is the first thing that sprang to my mind when I heard of this incident last night. Three things: one, it's seriously weird timing for something like this to happen, in the view of the forthcoming election. Two, it's troublesome for people like me (ie. "legal aliens") that their entire lives details are at the mercy of incapable outsourced contractors (I have been the victim of the system myself, so I know what I'm talking about). Three, it may be reassuring that the bureau in question addressed the issue immediately, but we probably won't ever know the full facts. Because hey! They're not worth knowing after all, are they?

KenDckey -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 7:01:52 AM)
Well Kittin I am not sure the names will ever be released. Personnel actions are protected information if I remember right. But the remainder of the facts I am sure are being investigated in light of the watergate posible connection.

LadyEllen -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 7:09:03 AM)
Crikey - the impression over here is that the US does everything bigger and better than us, but it seems no longer We dont have one person's private details exposed - we go in for millions at a time, carefully downloaded on disk and sent out in the post. And we dont have just any old contractors working in sensitive buildings with sensitive information to hand - we have illegal immigrants whose details no one ever thought to verify, in Parliament and government buildings and even guarding them. The US truly has lost its way! E

Sanity -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 7:12:04 AM)
Obama's people were offered a full explanation, they were given a full briefing. The only way a full-blown investigation can occur is if his private information can be made public. I wonder if they seriously want that.

kittinSol -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 7:20:24 AM)
Oh but hold on! It is Obama's files, the leading Democrat contender, that were peeked at, nobody else's (that we know of, so far)! And surprise surprise! We have a Republican administration! But hey, it's nothing but a coincidence [8\|] . Two words: Richard Nixon [:D] .

pahunkboy -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 7:20:37 AM)
http://nearearth.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/sen-obama-endorses-barack-obama-for-president/ look- he endorses himself. lol

celticlord2112 -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 7:31:11 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: kittinSol I find this incident troubling. How safe are those outside contractors when they handle delicate personal information? It's also a personal concern: much of my paperwork is handled by outsourced private agencies, contracted to do the government's work. Who's to tell me they respect the confidentiality of the information? I think a serious investigation is warranted - this is a dreadful state of affairs. Outrageous would be a better word. Unacceptable is another word that comes to mind. Kudos to the State Department officials who fired the offenders. They acted in absense of political or public pressure to correct an obvious wrong. They should stand corrected for not informing higher-ups of the offense, but give them due credit for acting. And yes, let us have a full investigation (one which preserves Obama's privacy--justice will not be served by magnifying the original offense with a public airing of personal data). The State Department needs to explain how such actions will be prevented in the future.

kittinSol -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 7:36:49 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: celticlord2112 And yes, let us have a full investigation (one which preserves Obama's privacy--justice will not be served by magnifying the original offense with a public airing of personal data). The State Department needs to explain how such actions will be prevented in the future. I couldn't agree more.

cyberdude611 -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 8:37:14 AM)
This is just stupid.... If the government wanted to, it could look up anyone's passport history. It doesnt need to go into any trouble at the state department to do so. The CIA or NSA can get such information rather quickly without anyone knowing they got it.

RealityLicks -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 8:52:24 AM)
If there was anything dodgy about it, we wouldn't be reading about it over our cornflakes. It's probably just nosey bastards with too much time on their hands but might... just might be a result of press snooping.

cyberdude611 -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 8:58:36 AM)
Exactly my point... This does not look like anything other than a few nosey people at the state department for their own amusement. If the government truely wanted to look at Barak Obama's private files of any kind....Not a problem. We would never know about it and neither would Obama.

Masternslave07 -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 9:32:33 AM)
Now it's being reported that all three candidates had their passport info looked at.

kittinSol -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 9:40:36 AM)
Nobody should have their information peeked at by curious bastards, whatever their motives. Period. The government, for the sake of cheapness, has contracted out much of its extremely heavy bureaucracy to outside agencies who aren't as competent as they should be, to say the least, and who hire badly trained staff. That's a problem.

LadyEllen -> RE: Obama passport breach. (3/21/2008 9:43:43 AM)
ah but Kittin, the subcontractors are controlled by the policies to which they are required to agree as part of the tendering process for the contract.... so all is well, all is well, all is well (come on now, say it with me) all is well.... What a load of bunkum. We all know that where there's a corner to be cut, people will cut it. E

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