3 different people have accessed Obama's passport file--is this a bfd?

[kjoe]

Olbermann is all over it---2 people have been fired, one has been reprimanded, it is being compared to what happened to Bill Clinton in 1992, the key questions seem to be ----who did this and why.

The time line indicates oip research---some are speculating about both Clinton and Bush having motive. Maybe Olberman is just rattling on...

Now they are saying it might not be criminal.

I don't know.

State Dept. workers illicitly check Obama's passport?

Nobody's reported the story that's now leading Drudge, so the details remain unclear, but here's Obama spokesman Bill Burton's statement.

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. Our government’s duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes. This is a serious matter that merits a complete investigation, and we demand to know who looked at Senator Obama’s passport file, for what purpose, and why it took so long for them to reveal this security breach.

[Celtic]

It was whitey.

[Bleacher Creature]

It was whitey.

Herzog had nothing to do with this.

[madyaks]

I'd say it's a BFD if it's an opponent, it's just a regular big deal if it's just some idiot who works there doing it for fun.

[Infidel]

I'd say it's a BFD if it's an opponent, it's just a regular big deal if it's just some idiot who works there doing it for fun.

Three idiots doing it for fun? How many idiots are there at the State Dept?

[madyaks]

Three idiots doing it for fun? How many idiots are there at the State Dept?

Well... they are Bush appointees right?

[Bleacher Creature]

Three idiots doing it for fun? How many idiots are there at the State Dept?

Wow, it's hard to find anything fun about this.

[Ohio Blues]

That's it, I'm not voting.

[BlueBrained]

BFD???

[JK]

BFD???

I think it means "big fucking deal"...

[jhanke]

Three idiots doing it for fun? How many idiots are there at the State Dept?

That is set up on a tee!!

[Schwahalala]

Well - I'd just say security has been compromised.

[210]

It was whitey.

I work with a guy whose nickname is "Whitey"....Ritchie White.

He's African-American

[kennyboyerfan]

It's outrageous that this happened, but I'm still trying to figure out what sort of sensitive or embarrassing info they could have gathered from a passport, if that was their intent.

[Schwahalala]

It's outrageous that this happened, but I'm still trying to figure out what sort of sensitive or embarrassing info they could have gathered from a passport, if that was their intent.

Evidently a whole lot - they also could have changed the data.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3595065.ece

A similar data breach took place in 1992 when State Department officials looked up data on Bill Clinton, then a presidential candidate, in an attempt to find out information from the late 1960s, amid unfounded political campaign rumours that Mr Clinton had sought to renounce his citizenship to dodge the draft during the Vietnam War while a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. They also tried and failed to find evidence that he secretly travelled to communist countries.