State Dept. Contract Workers Fired For Snooping In Obama's Records

The State Department fired two contract workers and suspended a third for illegally snooping in passport data relating to Barack Obama.

The officials, all contract workers, used their authorized computer network access to look up files within the department's consular affairs section, which processes and stores passport information, and read Mr. Obama's passport application and other records, in violation of department privacy rules, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was notified of the security breach today, and responded by saying security measures used to monitor records of high-profile Americans worked properly in detecting the breaches.

Mr. McCormack said the officials did not appear to be seeking information on behalf of any political candidate or party.

"As far as we can tell, in each of the three cases, it was imprudent curiosity," Mr. McCormack told The Washington Times.

Expect the usual suspects to claim that the Administration was engaging in illegal conduct and that Bush and/or Sec. State Rice should be brought up on charge. It's only a matter of time.

The fact is that contract workers at the Department were caught by the State Department's own security measures, but one has to wonder whether such efforts are extended to protect the data of all those who provide such data to the State Department for passport processing. Would the Department be able to tell if someone was improperly viewing data from my passport application or those of anyone else?

It's a question that isn't touched upon in this article.