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Daily Archives: March 21, 2008

State Department Acknowledges Unauthorized Access to Passport Records of Presidential Candidates

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AP: “At least four State Department workers pried into the supposedly secure passport files of presidential contenders Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain, abashed officials admitted Friday in a revelation that had Condoleezza Rice promising a full investigation and telephoning the candidates to apologize personally.”

  • Questions Taken at the March 21, 2008 Daily Press Briefing – Unauthorized Access to Passport Records: “There are approximately 180-200 million records in this system….We must await a final determination of the facts to determine what precise laws may have been violated. The passport records at issue here are protected by the Privacy Act of 1974. That Act generally prohibits non-consensual disclosures of personal information about U.S. citizens from a Privacy Act system of records, unless an exception applies.”
  • State Department Should Release Identity of Companies that Accessed Obama Passport File: “Chairman Waxman writes the State Department to request the name of the companies that hired the contractors who gained unauthorized access to Senator Obama’s passport files and to urge the State Department to release this information to the public.”

    • White House Discloses Destruction of Computer Hard Drives

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    Follow up to previous postings on litigation and hearings on missing White House email and violations of the Presidential Records Act, news today from AP: “Older White House computer hard drives have been destroyed, the White House disclosed to a federal court Friday in a controversy over millions of possibly missing e-mails from 2003 to… Continue Reading

    DHS OIG Audit of Airport Passenger and Checked Baggage Screening Performance

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    OIG-08-25 – Audit of Airport Passenger and Checked Baggage Screening Performance (Unclassified Summary), February 2008 (PDF, 8 pages): “The number of tests conducted, the names of the airports tested, and the quantitative and qualitative results of our testing are classified. We have shared that information with the Department, the Transportation Security Administration, and appropriate congressional… Continue Reading

    Fact Sheet: New York City Congestion Mitigation Plan

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    News release: “Governor David A. Paterson announced today that he has submitted a Governor’s program bill, that follows the recommendations of the New York City Traffic Mitigation Commission report of January 31, 2008 to allow for the City Council and State Legislature to consider a bill that meets the requirements of the United States Department… Continue Reading

    The Long-Term Implications of Current Defense Plans: Detailed Update for Fiscal Year 2008

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    Congressional Budget Office: The Long-Term Implications of Current Defense Plans:Detailed Update for Fiscal Year 2008 – All Funding in Billions of 2008 Dollars “This presentation updates the analysis of current defense plans contained in the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO’s) April 2007 Web document The Long-Term Implications of Current Defense Plans: Detailed Update for Fiscal Year… Continue Reading

    New GAO Reports: Nation's Long-Term Fiscal Outlook, U.S. Coins

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    The Nation’s Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: January 2008 Update, GAO-08-591R, March 21, 2008: “Our updated simulations continue to illustrate that the long-term fiscal outlook is unsustainable. Despite a 3-year decline in the unified budget deficit, the federal government still faces large and growing structural deficits driven primarily by rising health care costs and known demographic trends.… Continue Reading