Breaches of Obama, Clinton and McCain Passport Files: Just Bush Incompetence or Something Worse?

Update from Matt Corley @ Think Progress:

Yesterday, it was revealed that Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) passport files breached three times in the past three months. Today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told “Sen. Hillary Clinton that the security of her passport file were breached in 2007.” In a State Department press briefing today, spokesman Sean McCormack said that Sen. John McCain’s passport info had also been accessed by one of the people who looked at Sen. Obama’s file.

Update: Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent a letter to Rice today requesting the name of the companies that hired the contractors that breached the files.

Update: According to MSNBC's David Shuster, the employee who accessed both Obama and McCain's files was only suspended, not fired. Two other contractors were fired for accessing Obama's files.

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First, it is inconceivable that the breach of a private file belonging to a Presidential candidate could happen without an alert going immediately to the federal department charged with holding that file private. That would be the State Department, right? And, no, this isn’t just about safeguarding anyone’s privacy. We know the Bushies don’t credit that as worthy of their time. Indeed, they’ve thrown privacy out the window over the last few years. What I want to know is why the Secret Service wasn’t notified immediately. No, there’s no information there that could be used in an operation against a Presidential candidate, but the protection of Presidential candidates is a fundamental mission for any government, whether Republican or Democrat. If for no other reason, we need to see why the Secret Service wasn’t notified.

OK, I’ll calm down a bit. Here’s the story from the San Francisco Chronicle: