Clinton's, McCain's passport data accessed

WASHINGTON, March 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department Friday confirmed that passport files for Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton were breached, along with files of Barack Obama.

Sean McCormack, State Department spokesman, said the department searched to see whether other unauthorized accesses of the other remaining presidential candidates "and our search has turned up two."

"All three ... passports were breached," he said, explaining that a monitoring system in place for high-profile passport applicants flagged the unauthorized access.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has spoken with Obama , D-Ill., and Clinton, D-N.Y., and would reach out to McCain, R-Ariz., McCormack said.

He said a State Department employee accessed Clinton's file during a 2007 training session. Two contract workers were dismissed for looking into Obama's files. A third contract worker accessed without authorization Obama's and McCain's files.

"We are reviewing our options with respect to that individual's employment," he said.

He said department's inspector general and the Justice Department were working together.

He didn't say the investigation was a joint operation, characterizing it as a "hedge against any potential further action that might be required" beyond the inspector general's probe.

Once the investigation is completed, the results will be turned over to all congressional oversight committees, McCormack said.

He said the department knows of "a handful" of similar cases each year.

"But one's too many," he said.