The fact that Senator Obama's passport files were viewed by 3 different individuals and the timing of the breaches makes this all very suspicious.

At a minimum, it reinforces the sheer incompetence of the Bush administration.

Yup, definitely a Republican Presidential move. The same happened to Bill Clinton in 1992. Why should Obama be surprised? Oh yes, he is naive in dealing with Republicans! It is great to have such a peace keeping quality, but POLITICS can't change in 1 year. You have to run with the big dogs. I think Obama needs to go on a peace keeping mission for the Nobel Peace Prize like Al Gore did. He would be much better suited for that than president...make a great Secretary of State

The "gross incompetence" tag accurately describes George Bush's life, but it doesn't describe this situation. It happens too often with these people, e.g., Iraq war intelligence, Abu Ghraib, Valerie Plame, deleted e-mails, etc.

Anyone who's dealt with career civil service types in the government -- not the contractors here, but the managers above them -- knows that they actually tend to be highly competent and knowledgeable. The "mistakes" happen because senior management -- political appointees -- made sure that middle management understood that they were to happen.

It's difficult to avoid the conclusion that none of the above "mistakes" were actually inadvertent.

To those who ascribe this stuff to HRC, get real. While it's certainly something you might expect her to be involved with, these "contractors" get there because of their political allegiance (ever hear of a company called "Blackwater"?). Since HRC (likely) did not have anything to do with these contractors, you pretty much have to look to Dear Leader on this one too.

Has Obama done ANYTHING in his career except TALK??? How anyone can back this guy is beyond me!

How about jail time???? Isn't this criminal??

Give me a break Enrique. The State Department is still filled with a bunch of Clinton cronies.

Well, my prudent curiosity leads me to ask the question, "About what were these people curious?"

Imprudent Curiosity - State Dept. Fires 2

It doesn't matter who you support for the Presidency, we should all be concerned about this.

Well, now Obama knows what it's like to be a regular American. Having their personal information stolen and hacked into.

Give me a break Enrique. The State Department is still filled with a bunch of Clinton cronies.

Posted by: Tim | March 21, 2008 9:31 AM

You don't have the first clue how our government works, do you? To the victor go the spoils. Bush replaced Clinton's cronies with his own, as anyone would do in the same position.

I'll bet you dollars to donuts that the Contractors here are major Bush/Republicant donors.

I absolutely love the State Department's rationalization about this issue.

"McCormack said the department was not certain whether or not the reason for the improper access was a case of simple, though improper, curiosity."

They don't know why the records were looked at, but they are CERTAIN that it was just for curiosity and nothing nefarious.

Can someone please tell me HOW you come up with THAT conclusion?

Beyond the Obama issue, this sort of puts a HUGE hole in the administration's argument that the only records that are being looked at in the war on terror are those that relate to terrorists.

"If you did nothing wrong, you don't have anything to worry about." NOT.

Poor Obama someone saw his passport file is there something in there he's worried about? Has he dotted all his i's and crossed all his t's.
The Obama camp have all but imploded from his big mouth and now W did it. Blame everything on W Obama your campaign is clearly in trouble and you are looking for damage control. Yada, Yada, Yada!
Jerry White, Springfield, IL

Why are contract workers employed by the State Department with access to highly confidential information? Shouldn't the person who's decision it was to hire contractors be fired too?

Hey Jerry White -

Are you at all aware that what happened to Obama (and Clinton in 1992) is illegal? And that only members of the Bush administration could gain this kind of illegal access?

This has nothing to do with "dotting i's and crossing t's", this is a major and un-American invasion of privacy.

I'm well aware that different rules apply to Republicans (i.e. if this had happened to McCain, you'd be screaming about it being un-Patriotic, or somehow Bill Clinton's fault!), but try to keep some perspective.

I hope someday your private records are looked at then publicized for the world to see so that we may all proclaim, "Poor Jerry White".

Who are the contractors?

Blackwater is one, that was confirmed by a source in the State Department but is being hushed up to prevent a national inquiry into the Republican partied use of their snooping abilities, inm fact Balckwater taps phones uses US satellites to spy on Americans all the time. The other is probably a didivison of Halliburton.

Poor Obama someone saw his passport file is there something in there he's worried about? Has he dotted all his i's and crossed all his t's.
The Obama camp have all but imploded from his big mouth and now W did it. Blame everything on W Obama your campaign is clearly in trouble and you are looking for damage control. Yada, Yada, Yada!
Jerry White, Springfield, IL

Posted by: Jerry White | March 21, 2008 9:57 AM

Jerry: Read Orwell's 1984 and get back to us.

The only good that can come out of this is if the employees admit they were asked to do it by the Clinton campaign.

Other than that, I'm going to guess that Obama's three dirty words "typical white woman," are going to do him in.

You see, Americans want forgiveness for hundreds of years of slavery, Jim Crow, and subtle racism.

However, Americans are incapable of forgiving a black man uttering the words, "Typical White Woman."

Happy Easter.

No wonder I have always associated the GOP with political dirty tricks. Once again... I was in high school during Watergate, and that made a lasting impression on me. Even if Clinton and Obama are the best the Dems can do this time around, I'll NEVER belong to the GOP.

Wow, Joe DiGenova (Mr. Victoria Toensing) being impartial and unbiased. Who'd a thunk it?

So maybe it's too late for State's IG to question the fired employees, but how about an independent prosecutor? And who was it who made the decision to fire the contractors? In other words, who bungled the operation? I'd suggest getting Condi up to the Hill to answer some questions, but I doubt she'd recall anything.

Also, to Amazed: a HUGE chunk of your government is contractors. That's what government is now. Doubtless they need access and security clearances to do their jobs.

Hey Mike, Bay and Mark, what exactly is in someone's passport files anyway?

In the last seven years, I have been to 6 carribbean nations, Italy and France twice each, England, Spain, and Greece once each, and I will be in Amsterdam in the fall. Now that everyone knows, shall I be outraged?

This is just a THEORY, OK? Since Obama is a public official, people don't need to look at his passport to see where he's been on official business. All you have to do is to check his itinerary during his term as an Illinois congressman or as an US Senator. So the only thing left is his private travel. My GUESS is that the Clinton people wanted to see if he has travelled somewhere with the Retzko family or anybody who is under investigation in the Retzko trial. Or to see if Obama was travel was paid by Retzko. By the way, don't blame the Republicans until we'll find out who the fired employees are.

Why isn't this a criminal investigation?

this smacks of rovian/watergate type political tactics. journalists get off your butts and do your job. get the names of the individuals and do some investigating into their backgrounds using your resouces. an apology is not enough. this type of garbage is typical of rove. i don't believe he's out there doing nothing with a presidential campaign going on. this is illegal! if i should do something illegal i can expect to be arrested. not just fired or suspended.

What is the big deal unless Barack Hussein Obama has something to hide? Obama wants Clinton to release some past financial statements? Obama should release his passport files if he has nothing to hide!

Jerry White - this is NOT about damage control or hiding things, this is about an illegal act performed by those who were granted "access" and then abused it. If this happened to Hillary or McCain, it would remain an illegal act no matter what, and an investigation should be carried out with punishments doled out to those who deserved it. Your dismissiveness of the true issues surrounding this suspicious act betrays acute ignorance on your part. Shame on you.

I seems that this administration has figured out how to cover up Watergate 2.
Blame and fire the thieves.

Spying on political adversaries for political motives last I heard was illegal, but damn, America has now accepted living under the age of surveillance for a while.

I wonder if people even know what civil liberties are anymore.

You Rebublicans never change...I can't wait for November when all of you crooks and liars are ousted big time!

In the last seven years, I have been to 6 carribbean nations, Italy and France twice each, England, Spain, and Greece once each, and I will be in Amsterdam in the fall. Now that everyone knows, shall I be outraged?

Posted by: David | March 21, 2008 10:59 AM

No. You "shall" get your head out of your butt. Disclosing information voluntarily is a mite different than having it snooped without your knowledge. Even a half-wit like you should be able to piece that together.

Lots of uninformed opinions here. In comparison to many corporate breach incidents, The discovery/disclosure of this one was apparently exceptionally efficient (many incidents tend to take months) and many organizations don't even implement any monitoring applications at all, even for mitigating against breaches of particularly sensitive information. Also, from somewhat personal experience, I can say that many career civil servants in the State Dept. tend to "lean left", as opposed to "right", so I think that the notion of this incident being politically motivated is highly dubious. Finally, it's worth noting that, in our world of outsourcing, contractors have lots of autonomy and ability to access databases containing personal information. Unfortunately, this is the case in both public and private sectors.

How can anyone back Obama for lack of experience...Blah, Blah, Blah...How about this...Where are the idiots that supported Bush...whose only experience in the National Guard Reserve is responsible for the lifes of many brave soldiers dying for no reason. Give me a break you blind republicans.

I just looked at Jerry White's passport file..he is an idiot from Springfield

Clinton and McCain's files were breached as well. So why did the Press only report that Obama's files were breached? Do you call it fair journalism? NO wonder the Trib (and other newpapers, except the Wall Street Journal) bleed money every quarter. You should be ashamed.

Passport applications contain only basic identity data--name, date of birth,ssn, address, emergency contacts etc. etc. Much ado about very little.
More interesting would be something the State Dept file does not contain: a detailed report on Obama's foreign travel, including specific dates. Even low ranking civil servants with access to classified information are required to furnish such data. The presumption of privacy ends when one asks to be elected to public office.

Talking about incompetency and experience. Wasn't GOP presidential ancient and legendary candidate McCain who forgot the "Lyrics" the other day. I mean, I mean to say, Dah...!

It was revealed a short while ago that all 3 presidential candidates: McCain, Obama and Clinton's passport files were breached. So, folks, please don't jump to any conclusion yet. It could very well be "curiousity" for all we know.

Paul:
State only advised Clinton hers were breached today and State only at about noon Friday acknowledged that McCain's too were breached. Only the Obama case was known of Thursday night. No shame here, only breaking news.

Uh Oh. looks like McCain and Clinton had the same thing done to them. Is it still a GOP conspiracy against the "greatest leader of our lifetime" as some dopes like to call Obama?

My guess is, since I've never seen any presidential candidate picked and plucked apart like this Obama fellow, is someone behind the snooping thought maybe they would find something incrimminating being that so many thinks he's Muslim and has ties to Muslim countries...

To me, a firing is not enough a full investigation should be executed. But since it is possible this may be tied to the GOP, I don't think that will happen, a firing such as what has happened is all that there will be.

Are you people not reading other news sources? THE PASSPORT FILES OF CLINTON AND MCCAIN HAVE ALSO BEEN BREACHED. Enough with making everything about "poor, victimized" Obama.

For those who have wondered what exactly is in a passport file, well, it's a lot. And not what you might expect (records of where people have traveled).

Computerworld and Kos have good writeups on this. I don't think I can put URLs in these comments, so just google "What exactly is in a passport record" to find them.

This is an outrage, but why should any of us be surprised with an administration that has no respect for the privacy or constitutional rights of its citizens? According to a retired state department employee who posted on another blog, it's not just that these employees had access to the files, they also had the ability to tamper with the information that is contained within the files as well.

OPEN YOUR RECORDS OBAMA,,,,,,,,YOUR PARANOIA IS SHOWING!

Lets have all three candidates release all the information in their passport files and end the drama.

What's Obama so afraid of? Has he been lying about his date and place of birth? That, plus address and SSN are about all these records contain.

Don't forget Hillary when First Lady was going over Republican FBI files and the Clinton's had any enemy list turned over many names to IRS for audit. Take that Jackasses.Jerry White, Springfield, IL

The State's Dept. additional admission of Clinton and McCain passport breach is just a trick to dismiss their lack of responsibility and disrespect towards human rights. Only a fool or a GOP would fall for that. What a bunch of morons.

What is in a passport file? Is a Senator's passport file different than a private citizen's passport file? Why would someone want to look into their passport files? What information could they find that they can't find in public records?

For the record - ALL the candidates had their records looked at.

Where do we find out how much we pay contractors and if they are no-bid situations?

Where do we find out how much we pay contractors and if they are no-bid situations?

Clinton & McCain's files were also accessed so WHY the misleading headline???
Oh yeah, cuz it's all about Obama...sigh