The Unfolding Passport Scandal

obama's passport files were examined by on outside contractor hired by the state department to help the department process passports quicker in light of the new travel rules to canada.

after condoleezza rice apologized to obama, the state department also said mccain and clinton also had their records breached. clinton's last year.

washington times reporter bill gertz said on NPR he's been investigating this and will have a bigger story on monday. he also said that, indeed, that the information in these files can be used for nefarious purposes, political dirty tricks. it's possible he said to change the information accessed and use it in another way. kind of what fox news does.
more from gertz:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today apologized to all three presidential candidates for the improper access into their passport information by State Department personnel, as investigators began probing possible motives and why the breach was not detected earlier.

After being alerted yesterday by a Washington Times reporter to improper retrieval of Sen. Barack Obama’s personal information, State Department officials announced today that a review had found intrusions into the files of Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. John McCain as well.

One of the same contract employees who pulled Mr. Obama’s information earlier this year was found to have gone into Mr. McCain’s file.

Last summer, a State Department intern accessed Mrs. Clinton’s file during a training exercise, “and they were immediately admonished, and it didn’t happen again,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

An initial interview with one of the contract employees who took Mr. Obama’s information led State officials to conclude the actions were the result of “imprudent curiosity,” but Ms. Rice today promised a full investigation

Context to Pastor Wright’s Sermon

Truth About Trinity

Snooping Obama's Passport File

what could be the meaning of this?

CNN: On three occasions since January, Sen. Barack Obama's passport file was looked at by three different contract workers, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

The contractors accessed information in the file in an unauthorized way, he said.

Two contractors were fired and one was disciplined by the contractor's company, McCormack said.

He said the contractors are not linked.

The State Department hires contractors to design, build and maintain their systems and help employees with searches. McCormack said two of the contractors in the Obama case were "low-level" personnel and the other was in a mid-level position with no management role.

The breach seems like "imprudent curiosity" among the contract workers, said McCormack, adding that senior management at the State Department was not aware of the incidents until Thursday afternoon. Breaches occurred January 9, February 21 and March 14.

Obama's campaign is asking for a complete investigation to find out who looked at Obama's passport file and why.

"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 campaign spokesman Bill Burton in a statement.