Fergie's Tech Blog

Passport Scandal Leads to Virginia Contractors

An NBC News "Deep Background" investigative article by Jim Popkin and Libby Leist, via MSNBC.com, reports that:

Two of the government contractors who accessed Sen. Barack Obama's passport records worked for a Virginia-based firm called Stanley, Inc., the company said in a statement. A third contractor who looked at passport information for Sen. Obama and Sen. John McCain worked for a company called The Analysis Corporation, the State Department said.

"Two Stanley subcontractor employees were involved in the unauthorized access of Senator Barack Obama's passport files," a Stanley, Inc., spokeswoman said. "In each of these instances the employee was terminated the day the unauthorized search occurred."

"While this is a rare occurrence, we regret the unauthorized access of any individual's private information," Stanley spokeswoman Joelle Pozza added.

Stanley, Inc., is headquartered in Arlington, Va. The State Department awarded it a contract for $164 million in 2006, to print and mail millions of new U.S. passports. Stanley announced on Monday that it was awarded an additional $570 million contract to "continue support of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs/Passport Services Directorate."

posted by Fergie @ 3/21/2008 06:41:00 PM