Just heard this on the intro to Countdown.. The Dept. of Justice has launched an investigation into the compromising of Sen. Obama's passport data file by two contract employees at the State Department. A third has been disciplined for accessing the information without necessity.
When more information comes in MSNBC will be breaking away from Keith for the news conference.
EDIT: In the interest of keeping this story in a bandwidth-friendly environment, please use this diary as a secondary thread. Remember, as you jump over remember to un-rec this diary and rec the other one! Thanks a bunch for the assist clambake!
Update #1 - 8:15PM EDT: Keith is reporting that the breach took place in Jan. 2008. The contract employees were employed by the Bureau of Consular Affairs, which is not a high-profile division at the State Department.
Update #2 - 8:25PM EDT: Hate to use Drudge as a source, but it's the only place that has more than just a banner. Nothing on Obama's campaign website, CNN.com, or FOXnews.com at all, not even a banner.
Update #3 - 8:32PM EDT: Keith is citing a release from State that the breach occurred on three different occassions, on 9 January, 21 February and 14 March. They also are saying there is no political motivation behind this breach, it was "...simply curiosity..."
Update #4 - 8:36PM EDT: Boston.com has the story now (h/t Liberate for the link that wasn't Drudge or WashTimes!)
"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," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement.
Update #5 - 8:50PM EDT: State Department officials will be holding a conference call at 9PM in order to discuss this issue and what actions need to be taken.
Update #6 - 8:55PM: MSNBC now has the story up.
(State Dept.) Spokesman Sean McCormack Thursday night confirmed instances of what he called "imprudent curiosity" by the State Department employees.
McCormack said the department itself detected the breaches, which occurred separately on Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14.
.......
A senior (administration?) official told NBC News there was "no political motivation" to the incidents, adding that the three were low-level contract employees doing administrative work and accessed Obama's records out of "curiosity."
Also I think we need a second thread for this one. We're slower than molasses here!