Postal Service Accepts Blame for Release of Candidate's Security File, and Asks for It Back.EDITED

[elleng]

'The Postal Service on Thursday said it “deeply regrets our mistake in inappropriately releasing” the official personnel file of Abigail Spanberger, a former C.I.A. operative now running as a Democratic candidate for Congress, and requested that a Republican-aligned super PAC return the file.

“We take full responsibility for this unfortunate error, and we have taken immediate steps to ensure this will not happen again,” David Partenheimer, a Postal Service spokesman, said in a statement. He added, “The privacy and security of personal information is of utmost importance to the Postal Service. The Postal Service offers our sincere apology to Ms. Spanberger, and we will request the return of the information which we mistakenly disclosed.”

The Postal Service also acknowledged the possibility of additional inappropriate disclosures.

“We are continuing our review, but believe the issue began in June of 2018, and that only a small number of additional requests for information from personnel files were improperly processed,” Mr. Partenheimer said.

America Rising, the Republican-aligned research group, had requested Ms. Spanberger’s file under the Freedom of Information Act. After the Postal Service released the file, the group provided it to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Speaker Paul D. Ryan, which then used some of the information about Ms. Spanberger’s employment history for political purposes. . . .

EDIT: 'The Congressional Leadership Fund made an issue of Ms. Spanberger’s stint as a substitute teacher at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Va., when she was in her early 20s. At the time, Ms. Spanberger had been conditionally hired by the C.I.A., pending a background investigation. She went on to work in law enforcement for two years at the Postal Inspection Service before the C.I.A. officially hired her.

She served as a covert officer for eight years, including intelligence gathering overseas in pursuit of terrorists.

“If it weren’t so sad, it would be funny that they are somehow trying to give me terrorist ties,” she said. “I put myself at risk to thwart the terrorist threat.”'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/30/us/politics/abigail-spanberger-super-pac.html?

[0rganism]

1. lol nice of them to show up to close the barn door

yeah good luck getting the PAC to return all their copies and undo the doxxing that's already happened. got a time machine?
USPS now operated by gangsters, apparently

[Retrograde]

2. WTH is the postal service doing with a security document in the first place?

[elleng]

3. She was employed there for a while.

(I had the same question.)

[TheRealNorth]

4. Good question

Why would USPS have something like that.

[DBoon]

12. When would you need a security clearance to work for USPS?

The USPS should not have had that document in the first place.

[Hekate]

5. I am confused as to the Postal Service's role in this fiasco. nt

[elleng]

8. She was employed there for a while.

See my 'edit.'

[magicarpet]

6. Really the security clearance was for the CIA....

.... how did it end up in the hands of the post office, and how could anyone release confidential personal information of this magnitude ?

Who releases stuff like this, who is in charge, is it the grounds keeper who picks up the trash and litter on the post office's property ?

Heads should roll - with this astounding breech of this woman's privacy.

[exboyfil]

9. The postal service, at least in the 1980s,

handled classified information. I always found it kind of weird, but how else would you send documents?

[FreepFryer]

7. An "inappropriate" release of classified material may be a crime. Looking fwd to that report. (n/t)

[Proud Liberal Dem]

10. Umm.....oops

[rockfordfile]

11. I don't buy that at all.

[SharonClark]

13. This makes no sense

Why would the USPS have the CIA application?
Why would the USPS respond to a FOIA request?

Chuck Grassley and the repugs need to investigate this ASAP!!!!

[elleng]

14. She was employed at USPS for a while.

See edit.