NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/21/obama.passport/index.html
The State Department said Friday that all three presidential candidates' passport files were breached.

Sen. Barack Obama's passport file was breached three times since January, the State Department said.

The admission comes after it was revealed Sen. Barack Obama's files had been viewed three times by contractors. One of the contractors also viewed the files of Republican Sen. John McCain, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

Earlier Friday, Sen. Hillary Clinton's office said that the State Department had notified it that her file had been breached in 2007.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday she had apologized to Obama for the unauthorized viewing of his passport file by State Department contractors.

It was unknown Friday whether Rice had apologized to Clinton and McCain.

Two contractors were fired and a third was disciplined after they accessed Obama's file, McCormack said Thursday.

Rice told also said that the breaches would be investigated.

"I told him I was sorry and I told him that I myself would be very disturbed in anyone had looked at my passport files and that, therefore, I will stay on top of this," Rice said.

"We are going to do an investigation through the inspector general," she said. "None of us want us to have a situation where any American's passport file is accessed in an unauthorized way."

i gots a dollar says this investigation goes nowhere, despite claims from those being disciplined that they were told by superiors to do it.

At least it was bipartisan!

I do not recall.

At least it was bipartisan!

what good is snooping on politicians if mere party affiliation is enough to get you a pass? damn effective way to get those amazingly unified shows of support.

That's not how it's being portrayed. Like this is some kind of Republican conspiracy when they know nothing about the circumstances. This happens and making it all about Obama is disgusting.

Someone gained access to classified documents. Wow, I guess that's front page news and since it involves Obama we got to apologize.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/21/obama.passport/index.html

i gots a dollar says this investigation goes nowhere, despite claims from those being disciplined that they were told by superiors to do it.
*heard from the news this morning*
well, the program alerts superiors when such files are accessed and the superiors were alerted, yet nothing was done then. so it looks like the 'investigators' are looking at the superiors who supposidly got the alerts.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/03/21/obama-passport.html

It seems that Obama isn't the only one. McCain and Clinton were also subject to the same breach.

how much can you find out from a passport file? apart from that one time deportation from Jordan

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/21/obama.passport/index.html


i gots a dollar says this investigation goes nowhere, despite claims from those being disciplined that they were told by superiors to do it.

The beauty of being a supervisor. Command your underlings to do your dirty work, then fire them when someone finds out. Hire a new one, rinse, and repete.

how much can you find out from a passport file? apart from that one time deportation from Jordan

since passports are legal Identifcation documents in the US, alot.

That's not how it's being portrayed. Like this is some kind of Republican conspiracy when they know nothing about the circumstances. This happens and making it all about Obama is disgusting.

Someone gained access to classified documents. Wow, I guess that's front page news and since it involves Obama we got to apologize.

He was the first one they noticed. Hence he was the first one associated as a victim of it. Honestly that was a really pathetic attempt at a media bias whine.

Yep, here's another tempest in a teapot. I'll bet if the search were widened, we might find more candidates have had their passports looked at. This doesn't concern me anywhere near as much as how around 900 FBI files ended up at the White House in the Clinton years. Or how a former Clinton aide managed to carry real classified material out of the National Archives stuffed in his socks.

how much can you find out from a passport file? apart from that one time deportation from Jordan

since passports are legal Identifcation documents in the US, alot(sic).
Name, address, SSAN, places you have visited. I just don't see it as being a real treasure trove of dirt. Not a lot, if you ask me.

Name, address, SSAN, places you have visited. I just don't see it as being a real treasure trove of dirt. Not a lot, if you ask me.

Bolded: those alone is enough for anyone to steal your identity. and with all this technology, face-to-face meetings are not necessary. add to that corporations and people willing to throw money at candidates is a perfect environment for someone to set up a bogus 'fundraiser' to scam people.

Underlined: can show a pattern of travel. suppose Obama travels to Africa every August. that can be a breach of security.

Bolded: those alone is enough for anyone to steal your identity. and with all this technology, face-to-face meetings are not necessary. add to that corporations and people willing to throw money at candidates is a perfect environment for someone to set up a bogus 'fundraiser' to scam people.

Underlined: can show a pattern of travel. suppose Obama travels to Africa every August. that can be a breach of security.
I don't think that the purpose was to get a loan in the name of any of the three. Considering the three are public employees and that their travel is probably better documented than most, I'm not all that concerned about where they've been, either.

I don't think that the purpose was to get a loan in the name of any of the three. Considering the three are public employees and that their travel is probably better documented than most, I'm not all that concerned about where they've been, either.

who said anything about a loan? with that information, I could set up a phoney "Barak Obama campaign fund" at my bank, and send out some pretty convincing flyers asking for donations. I'll probably net hundreds of thousands within a couple of days and be gone before anyone notices.

and again, if a travel pattern is shown, then that makes the person predictable and thus a hole in security.

Yep, here's another tempest in a teapot.

or, you know, a continuation of a long-standing pattern of illegality and snooping.

or, you know, a continuation of a long-standing pattern of illegality and snooping.

Thank you tricky Dick!

Thank you tricky Dick!
Like Nixon invented the 'dirty trick'?n Give me a break.

Like Nixon invented the 'dirty trick'?n Give me a break.

No, but he's the first one to spring to mind.

i gots a dollar says this investigation goes nowhere, despite claims from those being disciplined that they were told by superiors to do it.

I have a dollar that says you're right.

No, but he's the first one to spring to mind.
Yes, but only because he's so easy to dislike. Not because he invented the genre.