Guide Note

A U.S. Department of State audit report released Thursday, July 3, 2008, revealed that 127 passport records of well-known citizens have been excessively viewed by workers in the State Department. No report of wrongdoing was mentioned in the audit report, but the safeguards to protect the information were judged to be inadequate. There is an ongoing investigation to ascertain if laws were broken.

Fast Facts

1. The investigation began in March 2008
2. 85% of the records reviewed had been viewed excessively¹
3. Five passport workers were fired for viewing Hilary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama's information¹
4. Information on Anna Nicole Smith was viewed more than 20 times¹
5. Social security and passport numbers were involved
6. Only 38 people had special protection for their files when the excessive viewing took place
7. Extra protection has been added for more than 1,000 high profile citizens

"This is unacceptable. The report makes it clear that the private information of over 100 million Americans is vulnerable to unauthorized access. I urge Secretary Rice to act promptly on the inspector general's recommendations and correct these systemwide failures."—Senator Joe Biden¹

"We are reviewing the circumstances under which people looked at these records and we will take action. If it's inappropriate access, we will take appropriate measures."—Michael Kirby, a senior official with the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs²