推 nplnt:不知道這會對選情有影響嗎 03/22 00:20
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(CNN) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday said she apologized to
Sen. Barack Obama for the unauthorized viewing of his passport file by
contractors working for the State Department.
Two contractors were fired and a third was disciplined after they accessed
the Democratic presidential candidates file, State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack said Thursday.
"I told him I was sorry and I told him that I myself would be very disturbed
in anyone had looked at my passport filed and that, therefore, I will stay on
top of this," Rice said.
"We are going to do an investigation through the inspector general," she
said. "None of us want us to have a situation where any American's passport
file is accessed in an unauthorized way."
Rice said "it appears that the system worked" because the unathorized viewing
was flagged, but "it should have been known to senior management."
State Department officials say Rice was told Thursday what happened and that
she told her staff she wanted a full investigation.
The 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.
A State Department source said passport files contain scanned images of
passport applications, birth date and basic biographical information, records
of passport renewal and possibly citizenship information.
Obama's campaign is asking for a complete investigation to find out who
looked at his 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 department would not speculate whether the information had been shared
with anyone else. Watch Anderson Cooper discuss the controversy ?
"That obviously is something we are investigating," said Under Secretary of
State Pat Kennedy. "I have no reason to believe they did, but I certainly am
not going to be dismissive of what is a serious and valid question."
Kennedy said he will brief Obama's senior staff on Friday.
Before contractors are hired, the department runs "public integrity checks,"
which are standard police and name checks for people who will be handling
"sensitive but nonclassified information," Kennedy said.
The background checks do not include inquiries into political affiliations,
Kennedy said, saying that would be "inappropriate."
A computer-monitoring system, triggered when employees access the file of a
high-profile person, caught the employees, McCormack said, emphasizing that
the department's system "worked."
However, despite the trigger, senior department officials only learned of the
incident Thursday afternoon, after a reporter e-mailed McCormack with a
question.
"It was dealt with at the office level where the incidents occurred by the
office-level supervisors, who took immediate steps when they saw this,"
Kennedy said.
"I will admit, they failed to pass the information up the chain to a
sufficiently high level." Department officials say that after Rice was told
Thursday what happened, she told her staff she wanted a full investigation.
The department would not speculate on whether the information had been shared
with anyone else.
"That obviously is something we are investigating," Kennedy said. "I have no
reason to believe they did, but I certainly am not going to be dismissive of
what is a serious and valid question."
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.
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