State Department report says celebrity passport snooping rampant

WASHINGTON - An internal State Department investigation suggests that employees may have been snooping on the passport records of celebrities far more than previously disclosed, and recommends new steps to secure the files. A report from the department's inspector general to be released Thursday says a survey of the records of 150 notable politicians, athletes and entertainers found that 127 of them had been accessed, some of them multiple times. The report does not say if their records had been viewed for legitimate reasons, but notes that an 85 per cent hit rate seems excessive. The investigation began earlier this year after it was discovered that the files of leading presidential candidates had been improperly viewed by contract workers. The report says investigators found numerous weaknesses in the system that is... [read full story]