Filed under: AK Parti, Bill Clinton, Qur'an — Claudia, Assistant Editor on March 21, 2008 @ 6:02 pm CET
In case you haven’t heard, two people have been fired and a third disciplined at the State Department, for allegedly snooping into Obama’s passport file. At present there’s no indication of what their motivations might have been, but though an investigation is under way, it could be that they were merely curious. Secretary Rice has personally called Obama to apologize for the intrusion into his privacy, which is nice of her.
Apparently this is a big story, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why. Anyone want to explain it?
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1 Obama’s Passport. Who cares?
March 21, 2008 @ 5:11 pm CET[…] Continue Reading […]
2 Michael van der Galien
March 21, 2008 @ 5:36 pm CETGood question. I think that it’s a big deal because they were trying to find dirt. O, and they may have broken the law. They did the same thing to Bill Clinton back in 92 by the way. Republican operatives. This time again probably.
3 C Stanley
March 21, 2008 @ 5:38 pm CETThe latest is that all three candidates’ files have been breached. I don’t get it either- it is a big problem that privacy is being violated, but what big secret did anyone think they would learn by doing this? I’d think that the candidates’ travel records would be available by other means, if it was just about learning where they traveled and when.
4 Cheryl
March 21, 2008 @ 6:31 pm CETI’ve been a contractor with the federal government - here are just a few of the issues this raises: Problem 1: I find it astonishing that no one sees a problem with contractors, who are not even US government employees, being able to access the travel records of our elected officials. There are already standard procedures in place for reporters and members of the general public to request this type of information. What were they doing? Problem 2: Accountability. Not only should the individuals who accessed the information be fired, but the name of the company that holds the contract with these three individuals should be disclosed publicly and the company’s contract should be cancelled. They should be barred from all future federal contracts for some period of time. They’ve most likely violated federal laws regarding contractor’s disclosure of government information. Problem 3: Let’s find out who the company’s owners are. Who are they connected to, who’s on the company’s board? Problem 4: These violations have been occurring since January. It’s taken almost 4 months for the State Dept. to figure out that there have been unauthorized access to the records of three Senators, one of three who will be the future president? What does this say with regard to the security and management of their internal files. Problem 5: If these high-level officials files are easily and repeatedly breachable, that certainly doesn’t bode well for the rest of us average citizens out here. The whole thing just demonstrates their total incompetence (which we already know about) or something more sinister. I almost wish it were the former. Either way, these guys need to be thrown out for negligence and gross incompetence on so many fronts!
5 cfpete
March 21, 2008 @ 6:57 pm CETHmmm?
Why don’t they also look for any connections these employees might have to
our vaunted press, tabloid or otherwise?
You know, phone records showing calls to reporters, bank deposits corresponding to a particular news story, that sort of thing.
I do wonder if such a thought would cross the collective mind of the media.
6 Claudia
March 22, 2008 @ 12:14 am CETThis does seem important. Not so much because of the one file of one senator, but of what it says about the general security of potentially sensitive data. Cheryl, don’t people who get access to these sorts of things get any kind of background checks? It’s starting to remind me of airports, where they have metal detectors and bomb sniffing dogs, and then they barely look at the luggage handlers and other low level staff, that have access to so many potentially dangerous areas.
7 Interested
March 22, 2008 @ 1:24 am CETactually Cheryl, The Contract need to be revoked. That is the only prudent measure for the Gov’t to take, simply firing the employees is not enough accountability.
8 Cheryl
March 22, 2008 @ 3:19 am CETClaudia & Interested-
Yes, you’ve both got it. Background checks are more extensive now than they have ever been. However, you may pass a background check, but it still doesn’t mean you pass ‘the integrity test.’ Half of this administration passed the most extensive background checks and look at the level of ethical integrity (or lack thereof) of the top tier of this administration. You can still be dishonest and pass all the tests. It seems to me that they’re only ’spot monitoring’ for breaches like this, so they might not catch something like this for months.
And yes, this company should be sanctioned. This is why its better to use as few contractors as possible and to rely on gov’t employees. The level of accountability is much higher for an employee. We have seen this same problem in Iraq. A US soldier is legally bound to obey US laws in the war zone and can be prosecuted. Although in this case, the contractors may be presecuted, the ‘bar’ for the employee is much higher and they’re much more easy to prosecute as employees.
Also, the headquarters of State Dept. not known for excellence in management in just about anything. This is not surprising in some ways. These organizations are just too big - often, the ‘lefthand’ doesn’t know what the ‘righthand’ is doing.
9 Herb
March 22, 2008 @ 4:48 am CETThe Israeli Mossad was connected with the passport breach. The problem is that the media, who favor Obama, are using this story to cover up the Wright Scandal.
10 Jason
March 22, 2008 @ 4:56 am CETSo it was Officer Ziva David in the State Dep’t with a computer. Got it.
11 Interested
March 22, 2008 @ 8:01 am CETAs a Federal Contractor I cannot agree with that, if anything we are held higher than Federal employees - we are accountable to an additional level. I am surprised that your Fed Contract is not as well.
12 Cheryl
March 22, 2008 @ 4:18 pm CETInterested - No, federal employees are, by law, much more accountable to the Federal government than are contractors. Just look at the Blackwater case, if you haven’t been keeping up with it. They’re still trying to figure how & if they can prosecute these guys. So far, all that’s happened is that they’ve been fired and they’re trying to figure out what laws apply in that case. I can tell you, I worked for a federal contractor that was audited, was caught with ’some problems’ in their books. That company still has it most of its government contracts. If it had been an employee caught doing the same thing this company did, they would have been fired, threatened with prosecution or prosecuted. All the employees left due to the unethical & dangerous behavior of the company, but they still have their contract.
And Herb, its really simplistic to say that the media favors Obama. Like any range of media outlets, some favor Obama, others favor Clinton & still others favor McCain. My take is that the Rev. Wright & Geraldine Ferraro’s story are being used to cover up the fact that John McCain, himself, not has pastor or someone associated with his campaign has been caught on tape directly responding to a question from an audience member during a Q & A session when the questioner called Hillary Clinton a bitch. Hmmm - I wondered why that clip hasn’t been aired repeatedly on FOX, MSNBC, etc. and why John McCain hasn’t been asked to respond repeatedly to his own words? Alas, the double standard in the US is always in operation - John McCain gets a pass on his own statements while the first woman & African American to run for president must respond to other people’s words. All just depends on where you sit as to whether you see the contradictions.
13 Interested
March 22, 2008 @ 4:27 pm CETWrong, Blackwater had specific items in their contract with the Federal Gov’t. If you are going to compare - you have to compare on an equal basis. Unless you are saying that the Passport folks have an equal contract as Blackwater. Carrying firearms to work and all that.
14 Cheryl
March 22, 2008 @ 6:40 pm CETHi Interested-no sorry, that’s not how I understand federal or state government contracting. Employees to the federal government are akin to indentured servants as compared with the freedom contractors are able to exercise. That’s why the federal government uses contractors - they use them to exercise more latitude, not less than federal government employees are able to, depending on how they write the contract. Contractors have absolutely nothing to deal with compared to the rules and regulations that governing government employees. A government employee can’t even have a contractor buy lunch (even innocently). As a contractor, I can go out and buy my subcontractor lunch or my subcontractor can buy me lunch. But a government employee - oh, noooo. That’s why alot of employees get out of the goverment and go work for contractors or grantees. Often they want to make more money, but many times, they want to have a bit more freedom in how they do their work and that’s more negotiable within their company’s contract mechanisms than it is as a direct employee of the government. That’s all contractors, Blackwater, the company that was apparently involved in this State Dept mess (Stanley, Inc.), individual proprietary contractors, etc.
15 Stan
March 22, 2008 @ 6:50 pm CETadmin: duplicated spamming accounts = ban
16 Michael van der Galien
March 22, 2008 @ 7:38 pm CETThe Mossad? Sure. Those pesky Jews again.