Like father, like son. Both George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush’s administrations have been caught unnecessarily, and perhaps illegally, accessing other political candidates’ passports. Three workers in the U.S. Department of State were caught accessing Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain’s passports without legal reason.

Accessing passport records without reason is a violation of privacy and could result in identity theft—passport records contain addresses, social security numbers, birthdates, family history, naturilization information, and more. The records include all the information the person provided to get a passport, and the only place these records are held is in a classified section of the State Department’s Passport Services Annex in Washington D.C. All three people running for president have had their passports accessed within the past two months. Obama’s has been accessed at least three times.
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Early this morning, Condoleezza Rice spoke with both Obama and Clinton, apologizing for the misconduct. She also has plans to apologize to McCain. One individual responsible for accessing the files has been reprimanded, but not fired. Two contractor employees were fired. No names have been released.
 
George H.W. Bush’s administration was also under scrutiny for the same type of incident in 1992. Bill Clinton, rival to President George H.W. Bush, had his passport accessed as well. The official caught accessing the passport indicated that the goal was to find politically damaging information about Bill Clinton.
 
The people accessing Obama, Clinton, and McCain’s passports were caught because records of high-profile people are “flagged” when they are viewed without reason. The incident may violate the Privacy Act, and State Department lawyers have already been called in.
 

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