Passport Snooping Gets Fed Intelligence Analyst Up to Year in Prison

Submitted by MacRonin on September 22, 2008 - 7:54pm

Passport Snooping Gets Fed Intelligence Analyst Up to Year in Prison - Via Threat Level:

A former State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research analyst pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to unlawfully accessing passport records of celebrities, actors, athletes and politicians.

Lawrence Yontz, 48, of Arlington, Virginia, faces a maximum year in prison when sentenced in December, the Justice Department said. Yontz is the only person charged in a scandal that has rocked the State Department's Passport Information Electronic Records System.

The system maintains data on 127 million passports and can be accessed by more than 20,000 employees.

As part of a security breach, the passport files of Barack Obama, John McCain and Hillary Clinton were illegally accessed. The department declined to name the identities of others whose privacy was breached.

A July government audit (.pdf) has found "weaknesses, including a general lack of policies, procedures, guidance and training" within the State Department's passport bureau.

Yontz admitted (.pdf) that between 2005 and 2008 he read the passport applications of "approximately 200 celebrities, athletes, actors, politicians and their immediate families, musicians, game show contestants, members of the media corps, prominent business professionals, colleagues, associates, neighbors and individuals identified in the press," the Justice Department said.

The government said Yontz accessed the applications because of "idle curiosity."

Yontz pleaded guilty to unauthorized access to a State Department computer in
violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1030(a)(2)(B).

Photo: berbercarpet

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