March 21, 2008 3:28PM # Let’s Talk Passport Privacy! By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) --- SHARE With the revelation that the passport files of all three major presidential candidates [were wrongly accessed](http://thepage.time.com/2008/03/21/state-department-obama-passport-file-breached/), Sen. John McCain’s office issued the following statement: > The U.S. government has a responsibility to respect the privacy of all Americans. It appears that privacy was breached and I expect a thorough review and a change in procedures as necessary to ensure the privacy of all passport files. Yes, the government does have a responsibility to respect our privacy, retaining as confidential the data it collects as a condition of our exercising the right to travel. And all the presidential candidates might want to take a look at a [recent State Department notice](http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20081800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-202.htm) in the *Federal Register*. It would open passport files to: - the Department of Homeland Security, - the Department of Justice, including the FBI, the BATFE, the U.S. Marshals Service, and other components, - the Internal Revenue Service, - INTERPOL and other international organizations, - the National Counterterrorism Center, - the Social Security Administration, - public and private employers, - Members of Congress, - contractors, and - foreign governments. So, yes, let’s talk about passport privacy! ##### Related Tags [Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).