Security on Obama's passport security breached

[patricia]

This is just unfolding. Apparently some 3 or so mokes breached the security of Obama's personal data, THREE different times since January.
Nobody thought it serious enough to even notify Obama.
What the dickens???

[Dennis Gonzalez]

More of the same from our great executive branch.

[Uli]

I gather this disgrace is happening in the department of homeland security?

[Ron Thorne]

State Department: Someone
snooped in Obama's passport file



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


(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.

"Our government's duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes."

Doug Hattaway, a spokesman for Sen. Hillary Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, said, "If it's true, it's reprehensible, and the Bush administration has a responsibility to get to the bottom of it."

The White House declined comment Thursday evening, just hours after the State Department upper management learned of the breach.

The news was reminiscent of a breach of Bill Clinton's passport information during the 1992 presidential campaign. The FBI launched an investigation after the State Department reported that someone had ripped out pages from his passport file from the late 1960s and '70s.

The department concluded that a search of Clinton's passport records was an attempt to influence the presidential election, reportedly by trying to show that Clinton tried to seek citizenship in another country to avoid the draft. Clinton was running against President George H.W. Bush.

Then-State Department Inspector General Sherman Funk found no evidence the White House ordered department staffers to dig for political dirt in Clinton's passport files. However, Funk said the White House probably knew it was happening. E-mail to a friend

CNN's State Department correspondent Zain Verjee contributed to this report.

[Uli]

scandalous!

Another thing I don't understand, this is alredy one of the largest administration ever, they can't get much done and they still have to contract everything out.

[patricia]

Originally Posted by Uli

scandalous!

Another thing I don't understand, this is alredy one of the largest administration ever, they can't get much done and they still have to contract everything out.

If this scandal turns out to have legs, contract employees, already fired and gone, are much more difficult to pin down as to who did what.
How many are still there?
Are they hit and run operatives, and now that their job is done, gone into the mist???
Before everyone thinks I'm paranoid, who can blame people from speculating, considering that this administration is both the most secretive and the most deceptive in my memory??
They're making the Nixon Administration look like apprentices.

[Pete C]

I find it perfectly plausible that it was merely reckless curiosity, as is being reported. The problem is that it was kept under wraps for so long. As far as the use of contractors, I'm sure this is business as usual, and has nothing to do with the current administration. I think most government agencies, like businesses, have a mix of lifers and temporary employees.

[Gary Sisco]

What Pete said. Shit like that likely happens all the time but since it happened to a pres candidate, it's news.

I'd not give much of a fuck if someone looked at my passport file. What the hell, it's basic identity info, where you were born and so forth.

[Dennis Gonzalez]

Originally Posted by Uli

scandalous!

Another thing I don't understand, this is alredy one of the largest administration ever, they can't get much done and they still have to contract everything out.

No, Uli, they don't have to contract everything out. They wish to privatize all functions of government so that they can legally channel money out to their cronies and into their own coffers.

Notice how much money is being made by Halliburton in Iraq...

[Root Doctor]

From Talking Points Memo:

A few more details about the Obama passport breach. According to a new piece out in the Post from Glenn Kessler, the breaches occurred Jan. 9th, Feb. 21st and March 14th.

That would be the day after the New Hampshire primary, the day of the Democratic debate in Texas and the day the Wright story really hit.


--Josh Marshall

[Gary Sisco]

My, that is coincidence, isn't it?

[jesus marion joseph]

Prediction: Obama's passport file will turn up in Hillary's garage in New York. She'll express wonderment at how it could have gotten there.

[Gary Sisco]

Good one!

A man with a memory.

[bostontricky]

Originally Posted by jesus marion joseph

Prediction: Obama's passport file will turn up in Hillary's garage in New York. She'll express wonderment at how it could have gotten there.

Olberman floated the name of a former ambassador to Paraguay under the Clinton adminstration who is/was serving the State Department in some capacity; further research is needed...

[Gary Sisco]

Admins come and go but the government remains.

[Root Doctor]

Originally Posted by bostontricky

Olberman floated the name of a former ambassador to Paraguay under the Clinton adminstration who is/was serving the State Department in some capacity; further research is needed...

Was he wearing any socks? If so, he could be our man.

[groover]

At least Condi has apologized to Barack.

Apparently Hillary's file was also breached in 2007.

[Gary Sisco]

Also, announced a full investigation.

Thankfully, she didnt take full responsibility.

[Root Doctor]

It turns out that Clinton and McCain have had their passport files accessed as well.

[Gary Sisco]

There isn't really anything but a social security number that could cause any trouble from snooping in that file, but our social security numbers are in so many places, what are we to do about it? Otherwise, what's there? Birthplace. Birth certificate. Address of record. Birthday. Physical description. Photo.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Hey, cut out the contractor bashing. I'm one.

I hate to tell you folks but contractors are running this government. We're like the Masons or something.

Here's the premise: Most government workers don't have the expertise for many functions, especially in IT (my specialty). So it's cheaper to hire contractors than to train existing govies to learn how to do those jobs.

For instance, I'm a UNIX administrator. In the mid-nineties I took about nine courses from Sun, HP, and SGI in system and network administration. Each course cost approximately 2-3 thousand dollars.

Second, someone figured out the government would save money by not having to pay pensions to the folks they would have to hire if there weren't any contractors.

Everything is contracted out. I took a polygraph a couple of weeks ago. The poligrapher was a contractor!

But here's the sweet part (if you're the CEO of a defense contractor). The government winds up paying the contractor's company 2 or more times the contractor's (the guy actually doing the work) salary. It's called overhead.

So I guess someone somewhere's saving money, but who knows?

But forget about passport-gate. Think about the way Spitzer got busted. Bank computer programs that can examine all transactions (forget that old 10 thousand dollar myth).

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by Root Doctor

It turns out that Clinton and McCain have had their passport files accessed as well.

Darn! Because I was going to post, "McCain claims that his passport information was scrutinized at Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle."

Hey, great thread title, patricia. Really like it.

[sonic1]

Originally Posted by Darryl G. Thomas

Hey, cut out the contractor bashing. I'm one.

I hate to tell you folks but contractors are running this government. We're like the Masons or something.

Here's the premise: Most government workers don't have the expertise for many functions, especially in IT (my specialty). So it's cheaper to hire contractors than to train existing govies to learn how to do those jobs.

For instance, I'm a UNIX administrator. In the mid-nineties I took about nine courses from Sun, HP, and SGI in system and network administration. Each course cost approximately 2-3 thousand dollars.

Second, someone figured out the government would save money by not having to pay pensions to the folks they would have to hire if there weren't any contractors.

Everything is contracted out. I took a polygraph a couple of weeks ago. The poligrapher was a contractor!

But here's the sweet part (if you're the CEO of a defense contractor). The government winds up paying the contractor's company 2 or more times the contractor's (the guy actually doing the work) salary. It's called overhead.

So I guess someone somewhere's saving money, but who knows?

But forget about passport-gate. Think about the way Spitzer got busted. Bank computer programs that can examine all transactions (forget that old 10 thousand dollar myth).

I am not contractor bashing by any means, but I am left with the question as to why not hire someone with your credentials directly in the government? It seems like adding an extra tier of management to hire contract companies rather than just hire the talent directly into the government. It smacks of sweetheart dealing.

[patricia]

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

Darn! Because I was going to post, "McCain claims that his passport information was scrutinized at Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle."

Hey, great thread title, patricia. Really like it.

My duty as I saw it.

Interesting diffusion of alarm by mentioning that apparently everyone's private information submitted to a government agency is available for perusal by any pimpley-faced trainee, or other clerk, for whatever use they want.

Considering that the average bank-teller would be FIRED if they passed on confidential information, perhaps charged with invasion of privacy, how is it that this is being made to seem as if it's no big deal. Yes, it's ONLY passport information. But, passport information is supposed to be confidential isn't it??

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by sonic1

I am not contractor bashing by any means, but I am left with the question as to why not hire someone with your credentials directly in the government?

Depending on the skills and the times, staffing needs ebb and flow. Also, if the technology changes, they're stuck with Darryl if he's a civil servant. The bureaucracy would also make it hard to hire someone like him in a timely manner, and then they'd have a projected budget liability on the books for an employee that's handled differently for contractors (though other folks could explain this better than me). I even had a case (in private industry) where I had to change the agency I got paid through so they could call me a "temp" instead of a "consultant." I got paid the same hourly rate, but it was accounted for differently, and they got to boast about how many consultants they cut!

[Monte Smith]

I'm looking at my passport. It isn't pretty. The info you could collect from this document includes name, date of birth, sex, place of birth, and date and place of passport issue. Whoa! Smoking! Now I assume if a person had full access to my tip top tippity secret passport info, like any worker at an airport does, then you could even ascertain Where I Have Been. Guh! Police state.

[patricia]

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

I'm looking at my passport. It isn't pretty. The info you could collect from this document includes name, date of birth, sex, place of birth, and date and place of passport issue. Whoa! Smoking! Now I assume if a person had full access to my tip top tippity secret passport info, like any worker at an airport does, then you could even ascertain Where I Have Been. Guh! Police state.

They could also see where you've been since it's been issued, Monte.

But, that wasn't my point.
Any information you give to a government agency, such as what you mentioned, as well as additional information if you travel extensively is supposed to be confidential.
It is possible that whoever handles other personal information about you, for example your income tax return, your other information gathered at different times may have conpromised it.
Somebody inputs it into a system and are sworn to secrecy.
If it was only the basic information on your passport, it would still be serious.
If you travel, stamps from every country cross-file on your record. Also, if you've lived in a foreign country, other information is also in your passport file.
This would only be pertinent to Barack Obama, since neither Clinton, nor McCain have done that.
The people who say that it's no big deal are the same people who wonder why you would be worried about your personal phone calls, or e-mails etc. "IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE.
That would be my concern, not because I'm an international spy, but because any easy distribution by some yahoo, hired as a temp, of personal information means that you are slowly and surely losing control of your identity.

[tippy]

For me it’s no big deal because basic information is already proliferated without our consent in the form of mailing lists for crap that fills up my mailbox and, worse, falls on my shoulders to destroy. I notice when I start getting new catalogs and stuff from companies I haven’t purchased from after making a purchase from a new place. Most recently I think it was 1-800-Flowers who sends me at least 10 emails in a week and new catalogs have started arriving in the mail. For all I know firms you’ve done business with make money off this information. I wish USPS would severely raise the bulk mailing rate.

My fear is always the credit card company employees etc. selling stuff off – they have the most to gain. But as far as SS which I was raised to respect as intensely private, well the IRS was packaging that private info wholesale on the outside mailing label of our tax forms in the 90s though I noticed they stopped doing that but WTF were THEY thinking. This stuff does really make me angry but nobody does anything about it.

Oh yeah, recently I found out I am listed at “Spoke.Com” as working at a place that I left over 4 years ago. Who the hell is that to have permission to list me at ALL?

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by patricia

They could also see where you've been since it's been issued, Monte.

But, that wasn't my point.

No, of course.

But it does beg the question. Where have I been since it's been issued???

[Enforcer]

I've given up all illusions of having privacy. I encourage the rest of you to follow suit.