Help me trace the Obama passport breach. UPDATE

The leak came from the Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs, which consists of the following sublevels (source of chart):

Initial Google searches make me think Stanley Associates of Arlington, Virginia could be the contractor in question (also found this source), but I'd really like to nail it down and find out who is responsible, because the press is not reporting this information yet (and I'm wondering if the State Department won't be as forthcoming as we'd like them to be).

UPDATE: MSNBC confirms that it was indeed Stanley Associates.

Another company, MBR Computer Consultants, was awarded a one-year contract in May 2006 to deal with monitoring systems at Consular Affairs, but I don't know if they still have/had a contract, or if they were involved with or had access to records.

If someone can do a better job of digging than I can, please help me out here.

It may very well be that within a matter of hours this information will come out from traditional news sources; on the other hand, the specifics may not reach the light of day as we are dealing with the Bush administration here!

I may not be posting more soon, depends on what I can dig up, but wanted to ask for anyone else who is interested to post their thoughts/research information here.

UPDATE

In case you were wondering what is in a passport record:

The passport records system includes the following categories of records:

    Passport books and passport cards, applications for passport books and passport cards, and applications for additional visa pages, amendments, extensions, replacements, and/or renewals of passport books or cards (including all information and materials submitted as part of or with all such applications);

    Applications for registration at American Diplomatic and Consular Posts as U.S. citizens or for issuance of Cards of Identity and Registration as U.S. Citizens;

    Consular Reports of Birth Abroad of United States citizens;

    Certificates of Witness to Marriage;

    Certificates of Loss of United States Nationality;

    Oaths of Repatriation;

    Consular Certificates of Repatriation;

    Reports of Death of an American Citizen Abroad;

    Cards of Identity and Registration as U.S. citizens;

    Lookout files which identify those persons whose
applications for a consular or related service require other than
routine examination or action; and

    Miscellaneous materials, which are documents and/or
records maintained separately, if not in the application, including but
not limited to the following types of documents:

   [cir] Investigatory reports compiled in connection with granting or
denying passport and related services or prosecuting violations of
passport criminal statutes;

   [cir] Transcripts and opinions on administrative hearings, appeals
and civil actions in federal courts;

   [cir] Legal briefs, memoranda, judicial orders and opinions arising
from administrative determinations relating to passports and
citizenship;

   [cir] Birth and baptismal certificates;

   [cir] Court orders;

   [cir] Arrest warrants;

   [cir] Medical, personal and financial reports;

   [cir] Affidavits;

   [cir] Inter-agency and intra-agency memoranda, telegrams, letters,
and other miscellaneous correspondence;

   [cir] An electronic index of all passport application records
created since 1978, and some passport application records created
between 1962 and 1978;

   [cir] An electronic index of Department of State Reports of Birth
of American Citizens abroad; and/or

   [cir] Records of lost and stolen passports.

•  Thanks for the info

  Everything we can know about how the Dept. works will help.

  by Purple Priestess on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 06:33:33 PM PDT

•  keep digging

  another angle is to figure out if the leaking of the photo of Obama in ethnic garb coincides with the January break-in.

  by gnat on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 06:33:56 PM PDT

  •  Oh.. hadn't thought of that!

    Yes, that would be good to know.

    by Purple Priestess on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 06:38:22 PM PDT

  •  How about this?

    There was a break in on Feb 21st...Drudge first posted the "dressed" photo of February 25th.

    by ArkansasLiberal on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 06:57:09 PM PDT

    •  I meant..

      I meant "on" February 25th of course

      by ArkansasLiberal on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 07:06:42 PM PDT

  •  ethnic garb

    I was thinking the same thing, how strange for someone to find that picture.  Remember Drudge said Clinton campaign gave it to them and I beleive the date it surface was Feb 22

    by Craftyjani on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 07:08:38 PM PDT

    •  It was the 25th

      here

      by ArkansasLiberal on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 07:21:42 PM PDT

•  n0madic & wander indiana

  two best researchers e'vah!

  by llbear on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 06:36:39 PM PDT

•  keep it up

  by jasonhogan on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 06:37:20 PM PDT

•  Help with FPDS?

  I am trying to access Federal Procurement Data System to search there, but have misplaced my password and haven't yet received a temporary password (gotta check spam filters, I think).

  If anyone can and will search FPDS for passport-related contracts in the State Depts' Bureau of Consular Affairs, I'd much appreciate it!

  by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 06:40:21 PM PDT

  •  still waiting on temp password from FPDS

    How convenient that they are not sending me a temp password (I had set up two accounts, and I can't get into either)! Arrgh. Not in spam filter, I'll just have to wait...

    by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 07:01:50 PM PDT

•  as ian fleming said

  first time: happenstance

  second time: coincidence

  third time: enemy action

  by memofromturner on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 06:45:41 PM PDT

•  U.S. Department of State Passport Records

  Here's an organizational list of State's passport records.

  by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 06:46:15 PM PDT

  •  Obama have a diplomatic/"offical" passport?

    If so, that source has this to say about "DOTS" passport records:

    Diplomatic and Official Tracking System (DOTS) - DOTS is an accountability system for the issuance of diplomatic and official passports

    Disposition: Transfer to the Records Service Center (RSC) quarterly for immediate transfer to the Department's Vital Records Center.  Destroy or recycle upon receipt of updated tape.

    DispAuthNo: N1-59-96-5, item 22c(2)(d)
    A-13-001-22c(2)(d)

    Description: c.  DOTS Output Data.
    (2)  DOTS Back-up Tapes.
    (d)  Back-up Tape 4.

    Date Edited: 7/26/2007

    So the Records Service Center (whoever operates that) and the Vital Records Center (again, who is the contractor) would have access to Obama's data, for sure. Doesn't rule out other sources of access.

    by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 06:50:05 PM PDT

•  The real story might be the outside contracters.

  Last year, the State Department started using outside contracters to process the huge number of passport requests, because of the new passport requirements for Canada and Mexico.  As usual the Bush Administration wasn't ready for the increased demand and was caught with a huge problem.  Obviously, security was compromised in favor of keeping the problem quiet.  

  by hopeward bound on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 06:55:37 PM PDT

•  Who at State might be responsible?

  Another angle to chase down.

  A State Department Foreign Affairs manual suggests we start with the Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs and work our way down.

  Next level: Deputy Assistant Secretary for Passport Services? to Managing Director, Passport Services, to Senior Passport Operations Manager.

  Of course, there's also a Passport Integrity Division, who in the matter of investigating individuals and/or fraud, may access passport records...

  Why don't they just tell us who the friggin' contractor was?

  by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 06:58:12 PM PDT

  •  well if you consider who owns the contract compan

    which was just reported by Kieth Olbermann as being
    Halliburton.

    I would say this was a Cheney Hit Job!!!

    by WAKEUPAMERICA on Fri Mar 21, 2008 at 12:18:59 AM PDT

    •  i believe that was conjecture

      He was making an offhand remark, I think, about Halliburton.

      by wanderindiana on Fri Mar 21, 2008 at 03:51:06 PM PDT

•  A quick check of

  the management of Stanley, MBR and Harris Corp reveals nothing suspicious.  Amusing - the CEO of Stanley contributed a few bucks to Joe for Ct.

  by Marie on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 07:10:34 PM PDT

  •  MSNBC confirms Stanley: Nolan's Contributions

    According to federal campaign records, Stanley's Chairman and CEO, Philip Nolan, has made political contributions to prominent Republican candidates and also gave $1,000 to Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign on Feb. 20, 2008.

    Passport Scandal Leads to Virginia Contractor

    by wanderindiana on Fri Mar 21, 2008 at 04:10:33 PM PDT

•  Passport records shared outside State Dept?

  cryptome.org:

  Summary: Passport Services has prepared an update of its system of
  records notice (SORN) as required by the Privacy Act 5 U.S.C. 552a and
  Appendix I to OMB Circular A-130 (``Federal Agency Responsibilities for
  Maintaining Records About Individuals''). Publication in the Federal
  Register of the updated SORN will establish a number of new "routine
  uses'' for sharing passport records outside the Department of State.

  So they are in the process of getting looser with these records?

  by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 07:12:12 PM PDT

•  Obama probably has two passports

  I believe it is the case that some high-level federal employees have two passports:  one that identifies them as a United States Government employee, and their personal passport as a private citizen.

  My best guess is that both sets of information were compromised.

  by Exurban Mom on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 07:18:41 PM PDT

•  could be one of the major IT contractors

  The 2 I'm most familiar with are CSC and SAIC; they have multi-year contracts with GSA, which allows any fed agency/dept to "sign on" to these existing contracts without having to bid out their own contracts for common IT services (and some pretty specialized ones). Both CSC and SAIC do work for the State Dept, either through these GSA vehicles or individual contracts.

  by rincewind on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 07:36:37 PM PDT

  •  maybe CSC, yes

    I've got into the FPDS and see that Stanley has 337 contracts in there, for millions and millions of dollars... FPDS is a bitch to search, even since they added a new interface.

    It would have been so damn easy for a reporter to ask the contractor's name, even if they didn't get the individuals' names.

    by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 07:45:19 PM PDT

    •  details of a recent Stanley Associates award

      For "support services" (these records have sketchy details at best) -- Award ID# SAQMMA08F2970, signed 11/6/2007, estimated completion date 3/19/2008 (how f'in coincidental -- that was yesterday). Amount of contract: $3,466,994.00

      by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 07:49:30 PM PDT

      •  sister contract

        Award ID# SAQMMA08F2971, just one up in sequence, signed on the same date, 11/6/2007, with the same completion date, amount of contract: $2,485,966.00

        by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 07:52:47 PM PDT

    •  excellent work, wanderindiana

      I was a fed contractor for 6+ years, and I still can't make heads nor tails of gov't contract-ese ;>

      Even in the laid-back 90's, in totally non-sensitive IT work, contract employees had very rigid rules for data access -- and you can bet your ass we knew we'd be canned if we broke 'em.

      I can honestly see one person being a nipnut and just looking at the file for the hell of it; two nipnuts is a stretch, and 3 is ludicrous. And only Obama's file? Nope, can't buy 3 separate cases of "imprudent curiosity" about one specific political figure over the span of 2 months by 3 employees of 2 different contractors.

      by rincewind on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 08:03:31 PM PDT

  •  and then there are subcontractors

    which are very common and they are given specific discrete bits of larger contracts (so could be a sub in this case).

    State Dept needs to answer who employed these three people and under what prime contract were they working.

    by MMW on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 08:18:27 PM PDT

•  This hits home to me

  I had a passport (shared with my mom and brother) when I was 5 years old.  I traveled extensively with my parents, but not to live full time abroad.  But we went to the USSR in 1970 and since then as an adult I have traveled extensively in the Middle East for my work.  My passport file is probably really big, too.  

  by annetteboardman on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 07:46:58 PM PDT

  •  don't run for office!

    Or request your file now and keep a copy!

    by MMW on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 08:19:19 PM PDT

•  taking a break

  I'll be stepping away for awhile, though I just heard Rachel Maddow on MSNBC tell Olbermann that we need to know who the contracting company is (or companies)... which is just what I'm trying to do here, but it ain't easy.

  Those who are so inclined, please use this space to add your research!

  by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 08:03:14 PM PDT

•  a couple more thoughts before I break for awhile

  National Passport Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, run by Tyrone K. Shelton, Director -- does this place have anything to do with the breach (check these job listings)?

  There are passport centers across the country that might have access to a data system, and unless reporters press the State Department on the location(s) of the breaches and the contractor(s) involved, we may never know.

  by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 08:20:44 PM PDT

•  The same cited Federal Register notice

  included a change in the rules for granting access to passport records.

  Publication in the Federal Register of the updated SORN will establish a number of new ``routine uses'' for sharing passport records outside the Department of State. The purpose in granting access to other entities varies, but principally encompasses the following functions:

  January 9 was the date of the first breach.  This raises the possibility that Obama's records became available to the contractors on that date because State shared them with one of the entities listed in the notice:

  New routine users listed in the SORN include the Department of
  Homeland Security, the National Counter-Terrorism Center, the
  Department of Justice (including components such as the FBI), foreign
  governments, and entities such as Interpol, for counter-terrorism and
  other purposes such as border security and fraud prevention.

  If the passport information was shared outside the State Department, it could be important to know why.  The notice lists an almost endless variety of "routine uses," new and old, including IRS investigations, a technique the Nixon administration reportedly used to harass its critics and opponents.

  by Deep Harm on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 08:30:55 PM PDT

  •  How many knew this?

    I had no idea such wide access was happening. Was this widely reported, or did it just pop into the Federal Register at the start of the year?

    Since I've been away I've read that there are at least two contractors involved, when earlier I was working on the premise that all the breaches occurred under the watch of just one.

    As I said earlier, and which is even more true in light of the wide-open access to passport records -- we may never know unless someone close to this case opens up to the media and/or Obama.

    We cannot trust the Bush administration to fully investigate this. No chance in hell it will be fair.

    by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 10:02:42 PM PDT

    •  Many Federal Register notices go...

      ...unnoticed.  This notice was published January 9/10, and apparently received little attention. Cryptome, however, picked up on the potential for abuse.

      by Deep Harm on Fri Mar 21, 2008 at 05:51:06 AM PDT

•  holy shit

  that list of items in the passport record almost made me swallow my tongue.  Anyone here know that all this info was involved?  I have had a passport, and I don't remember them knowing that much about me.

  by AlyoshaKaramazov on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 08:54:02 PM PDT

  •  especially with any reports

    Investigatory reports on whether or not to grant you a passport? Anything could be in those files...

    by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 10:03:59 PM PDT

•  STATE-26

  State-26 is the official system name for the State Department's passport file.

  It is a Classified system.

  Safeguards:

  All employees of the Department of State have
  undergone a thorough background security
  investigation and contractors have background
  investigations in accordance with their contracts.
  Access to the Department of State and its
  annexes is controlled by security guards, and
  admission is limited to those individuals
  possessing a valid identification card or
  individuals under proper escort. Access to
  passport office annexes have security access
  controls (code entrances) and/or security alarm
  systems. All records containing personal
  information are maintained in secured file
  cabinets or in restricted areas access to which is
  limited to authorized personnel. Access to
  computerized data bases is password-protected
  and under the responsibility of the system
  manager and persons who report to him or her.
  The system manager has the capability of
  printing audit trails of access from the electronic
  media, thereby permitting regular ad hoc
  monitoring of computer usage.

  Guessing that every access was via computerized database... but could it have been otherwise?

  by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 11:21:42 PM PDT

  •  included in Privacy Act exemptions

    Not that these snooping cases count, but you can read about gov't computer systems and Privacy Act exemptions here.

    by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 11:30:32 PM PDT

•  last post, I think

  Going to bed for sure, may add more tomorrow...

  So I got around to reading the Washington Times' version of the story:

  Mr. McCormack declined to provide the names of the employees or the contract, but he said they were hired by the contractor involved in producing, processing and approving passports.

  ...

  Mr. McCormack said the incidents took place at consular affairs facilities in the Washington area.

  So much for some of my speculation... but it looks more and more like Stanley Associates is the contractor in question here. Hope the press keeps hammering on this and we find out whodunnit....

  by wanderindiana on Fri Mar 21, 2008 at 12:20:25 AM PDT

  •  job description?

    Stanley Associates is hiring in DC!

    by wanderindiana on Fri Mar 21, 2008 at 12:28:04 AM PDT

•  Stanley CEO Philip Nolan gave $1,000 to Hillary

  ...according to Fundrace.  Opensecrets.org indicates such a large personal contribution is unusual for Nolan, of McLean, VA.  He usually gives political money through his govt contractor trade association, the Professional Services Council, on whose board he sits.  The only other large direct donation shown is $1,000 to Joe Lieberman.

  MSNBC has an investigative website with some of this.

  By the way, for researchers, the firm is known variously as Stanley, Inc and Stanley Associates.  It was founded by an admiral and most of its top dogs are ex-Navy guys.

  by aerialist on Fri Mar 21, 2008 at 05:55:41 PM PDT