AP and NBC News are breaking the story that not only was Barack Obama's passport file accessed by State Department contract employees, but apparently, the files of all three remaining major candidates have had their files breached, too.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has told Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that her passport file was breached in 2007.
In a statement from her Senate office, Clinton said she had been contacted by Rice. The State Department plans to brief Clinton's staff Friday about the unauthorized breach.
The development came just hours after the State Department fired two contract employees and disciplined a third for inappropriately examining the passport file of Clinton's Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama.
And while we don't have ink on the McCain breach, too, NBC News is reporting that his records were looked at, too.
The NBC anchors, led by the inimitable (and I don't mean that kindly,) Contessa Brewer, are blowing off the development as some sort of indication that this was just nosy pranksterism. But there are serious questions that should be raised about whether or not there really is a legitimate expectation of privacy to be had in the United States anymore.
If this did somehow emanate from the Bush administration, it should lead to the appointment of a special prosecutor, something I wouldn't count on the Bush Justice Department to do. But even if it isn't, it calls into serious question the administration's stewardship of the nation's security, and the peoples' rights and interests.
Update: The State Department is now calling the Clinton breach a "training mistake" this past summer, while the person in question was asked to enter a random name to learn the program and entered Clinton's name. The department spokesman says the person was immediately admonished for the incident and not fired. The Obama pilfering was a firing offense, and according to the State Department, which is holding a news conference now, in one incident, the same person accessed both Barack Obama's and John McCain's records. The acting inspector general at State will be overseeing the departmental investigation, apparently.
The oddest thing about this scandal so far is that the State Department is actually alleging that "the system worked." Look for that to be the talking point on right wing talk radio today... "the system worked..." "the system worked..." "the system worked..."
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done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
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Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
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End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
