Passport snooping likely is widespread

By Matthew Lee Associated Press Published: Friday, July 4, 2008 12:08 a.m. MDT WASHINGTON — An internal State Department investigative report suggests that employees may have been snooping on the passport records of celebrities far more than previously disclosed. It urges new steps to secure the files. A report from the department's inspector general released Thursday said a survey of the records of 150 notable politicians, athletes and entertainers found that 127 of them, or 85 percent, had been accessed 4,148 times between September 2002 and March 2008. Of the 150 files, nine had been viewed more than 101 times, according to the report. Thirty-three others had been viewed more than 26 times, and 85 files had been looked at at least once, it said. The report did not say if the files had been viewed for legitimate reasons,... [read full story]