WASHINGTON — A top State Department official responsible for passports has resigned, but the department refused Friday to link her departure to the uproar over unauthorized peeking into the passport files of all three presidential candidates.
“I wouldn’t ascribe it to any individual incident,” State Department spokesman Tom Casey said of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Passport Services Ann Barrett’s departure.
“There are management changes that go on in this bureau and consular affairs and others all the time,” Casey said.
Last month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice apologized to presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama after the department confirmed that their passport files had been compromised. It was not clear whether the workers — two have been fired — saw anything other than the basic personal data — such as name, citizenship, age, Social Security number and place of birth — that is required when applying for a passport.
The State Department’s inspector general is investigating.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey has indicated that prosecutors would likely wait until the inspector general concludes that inquiry before deciding whether to open an investigation of their own.
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