Contractor charged with unauthorized access to passport files

Lawrence C.  Yontz, of Arlington, used his position at the McLean-based Analysis Corp. to peek into the electronic files of the presidential candidates as well as those of scores of celebrities, actors, media personalities, athletes and other people in the news, according to charging documents filed in the U.S. District Court for D.C.

For three years, Yontz had been gaining authorized access to the database before triggering an alert that notified supervisors that a files of a high-profile person had been accessed, authorities said.

Yontz worked at an after-hours State Department desk that handles questions about suspicious passports or visas of people crossing borders overseas. Yontz was able to access the Passport Information Electronic Records System, which stores records on 192 million passports held by 127 million U.S. citizens, including data such as Social Security numbers, dates and places of birth, and passport numbers.

It’s unclear what Yontz was doing with the information. Yontz, who has contributed thousands of dollars to Republican candidates, according to campaign finance records, could not be reached at his home Sunday.

The breaches of Obama’s records came to light in March, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Obama to offer a personal apology.

A separate search showed that other contractors had also accessed the passport records of McCain and Sen. Hillary Clinton. In Clinton’s case, someone accessed her file as part of a training session.

Another contracting company involved in privacy breaches, Arlington-based Stanley Inc., said the firm had fired two employees who snooped into Obama’s file in January and February. State Department officials disclosed in July that two more contract employees had been fired for accessing passport records without authorization for a total of five people disciplined for privacy breaches.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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