All three major presidential candidates have had their passport files breached, the State Department confirmed Friday.
Both Hillary Clinton and John McCain were informed that their files were improperly accessed, according to their Senate offices, after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice apologized to Barack Obama for a similar violation.
“We do feel that the system worked, but the system isn’t perfect,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing Friday afternoon.
In a statement from her Senate office, Clinton said she had been contacted by Rice, who told her that her file was breached in 2007. The State Department plans to brief Clinton’s staff Friday.
“Senator Clinton will closely monitor the State Department’s investigation into this and the other breaches of private passport information,” Clinton’s statement said.
The development came just hours after the State Department fired two contract employees and disciplined a third for inappropriately examining the passport file of Obama.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.