[Dataloss] fringe: Contractors breach Barack Obama's passport file

[Chris Walsh]

The State Department said last night that it had fired two contract  
employees and disciplined a third for accessing Sen. Barack Obama's  
passport file.

Obama's presidential campaign immediately called for a "complete  
investigation."

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the employees had  
individually looked into Obama's passport file on Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and  
March 14. To access such a file, the employees must first acknowledge  
a pledge to keep the information private.

The employees were each caught because of a computer-monitoring system  
that is triggered when the passport accounts of a "high-profile  
person" are accessed, he said. The system was put in place after the  
State Department was embroiled in a scandal involving the access of  
the passport records of then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton in  
1992.

"The State Department has strict policies and controls on access to  
passport records by government and contract employees," Casey said.

The department uses contract employees to help with data entry,  
customer service and other administration tasks. The employee involved  
in the March 14 incident has only been disciplined so far, because the  
probe of that incident is continuing, an official said.

Though the workers were caught by a computer system that focuses on  
high-profile people, Casey said that a computer report is generated on  
every access to passport records and that spot checks are taken to  
ensure that employees are not violating the Privacy Act.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/20/AR2008032003422.html?hpid=topnews


[Obviously, these "strict controls" are detective, not preventative.]