Above: Condoleeza Rice addressing the corporate media on the upcoming cover-up & white-wash of the State Dept breaching Obama's passport records...corporate media agrees to run story of Obama's pastor knocking down the WTC this week to get this story off the front pages...Has anyone noticed, that the passport files story changed from "Obama's Passport Files Breached" to "Candidates' Passport Files Breached"? And that the story changed when Condi Rice stepped in on behalf of the State Dept.? Click here for original AP story.
Passport files for Clinton, Obama, McCain were pried into by State Department
workers By ANNE FLAHERTY and DESMOND BUTLER Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON (AP) -- At least four State Department workers pried into the supposedly secure passport files of presidential contenders Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain, abashed officials admitted Friday in a revelation that had Condoleezza Rice promising a full investigation and telephoning the candidates to apologize personally.The snooping incidents raised questions as to whether there was political motivation and why two contractors involved were fired before investigators had a chance to interview them (bd: Watergate!). The State Department's inspector general was probing, with the Justice Department monitoring the effort, but Obama said that was not enough. He urged congressional involvement "so it's not simply an internal matter.''
The unauthorized digging into electronic government files on politicians recalled a 1992 case in which a Republican political appointee at the State Department was demoted for searching Bill Clinton's passport records when Clinton was running against President George H.W. Bush (bd: OR...it recalls Watergate!).
McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting, said there should be an investigation of the new snooping as well as an apology.
Democrat Obama said that better include Congress, not just Bush administration investigators (bd: DING DING DING!!! YOU WIN THE PRIZE! Rice stepped in, because this is big trouble and the Bush administration is involved!).
"When you have not just one but a series of attempts to tap into people's personal records, that's a problem not just for me but for how our government functions,'' Obama told reporters in Portland, Ore., where he was campaigning. "I expect a full and thorough investigation. It should be done in conjunction with those congressional committees that have oversight function so it's not simply an internal matter.''
Rice was apologetic (bd: When was the last time Condi Rice was in the news? She certainly swooped down on THIS story in a split second!) in public as well as in her private phone calls to the candidates.
"None of us wants to have a circumstance in which any American's passport file is looked at in an unauthorized way,'' the secretary of state said after speaking with Obama.
"I told him that I was sorry, and I told him that I, myself, would be very disturbed if
I learned that somebody had looked into my passport file,'' she added. "And
therefore, I will stay on top of it and get to the bottom of it.'' (bd: Yeah, right! She's going to "cover it up" and "white-wash" it!)
In all, at least four workers were involved in the snooping.
The State Department confirmed Thursday night that Obama's files had been compromised (bd: Oh, yeah? HOW did the State Dept find out about this? The State Dept was TOLD by a WHISTLEBLOWER!) on three occasions -- Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and as recently as last week, on March 14. By the time senior officials were made aware (bd: NOTICE the words, "MADE AWARE"...by WHOM???), two contract employees had been fired and a third disciplined, agency officials said.
The firings could make it more difficult for the State Department to force them to answer questions (bd: Get that? They're already MAKING EXCUSES for a white-wash!) Unless they agree to comply, they would have to be served with a grand jury subpoena compelling them to testify before a grand jury.
The companies that provided the contractors were The Analysis Corp. and Stanley Inc. Stanley, based in Arlington, Va., this week won a five-year, $570-million government contract extension to support passport services. (bd: Were they "awarded" this huge contract, because they helped the Bush admin SPY on Obama??? And then someone LEAKED it???)
According to agency officials (bd: NOTICE! "agency officials" are the only ones who confirm ONLY OBAMA'S records were breached!), a Stanley employee improperly accessed Obama's records on Jan. 9 and was fired within days. The second ontractor, employed by The Analysis Corp., pried into similar records on Feb. 21 but was not terminated. The third incident involved another Stanley employee, who was swiftly fired.
In a statement, Stanley said it regretted the "rare occurrence'' (bd: There's lots of "rare occurrences" with Obama, isn't there?) of unauthorized access of any individual's private information. When it fired the two subcontractors involved in accessing the Obama files, terminating them the day the incident was discovered, Stanley was not aware of others performing unauthorized searches of McCain or Clinton's files, the company said.
(bd: THAT is the most important sentence in this article: THE COMPANY WHO BREACHED THE RECORDS SAYS THAT ONLY OBAMA'S RECORDS WERE BREACHED! THE STATE DEPT & CONDI RICE ARE THE ONES SAYING HILLARY & MCCAIN'S RECORDS WERE ALSO BREACHED!)
The Analysis Corp., or TAC, issued a statement late Friday saying it had been notified earlier in the day that one of its contractors had acted improperly.
The company said it had decided to honor the department's request to delay firing its consultant in order to give investigators (bd: Bush cronies) time to conduct its investigation. (bd: "time to conduct it's cover-up").
"This individual's actions were taken without the knowledge or direction of anyone
at TAC and are wholly inconsistent with our professional and ethical standards (bd: LOL!!!),'' wrote the company, based in McLean, Va.
