In a previous, Rush Passport™ passport blog article, it was reported that a US government passport office employee was arrested for using her computer passport security privileges to gain access to the confidential passport data and passport applications of more than 100 celebrities and their families.
According to an article in the Washington Times, the passport employee has pleaded guilty to lying to passport department officials. What was at first thought to be a passport security breach of 100 or so celebrity passports has now turned into a breach of over 500 confidential passport application files of famous Americans.
The former passport employee, Brooke E. Reyna, a 28 year old woman from Barrington, New Hampshire pleaded guilty in federal court to making false statements. When asked whether she looked at celebrity passports, she said that she did not. Now she admits that she did look through confidential files containing celebrity passport photos and celebrity passport personal data.
Since 2008, Reyna is the 10th State Department employee to plead guilty in a celebrity passport investigation. The passport investigation began when it was determined that the passports of then-presidential candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain had been accessed.
Reyna was formerly employed at the National Passport Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and it determined that is the location where the celebrity passport security breaches took places.
The passport database is officially known as the Passport Information Electronic Records System (PIERS). This passport database system contains celebrity passport data as well as all imaged passport applications since 1994.
Some of the information contained within the passport database includes celebrity passport photos, passport applicant’s full name, passport applicant’s date and place of birth, passport applicant’s current address, passport applicant’s telephone numbers, passport applicant’s parent information, passport applicant’s spouse’s name and passport applicant’s emergency contact information.
Mrs. Reyna admitted to viewing the celebrity passports of more than 500 celebrities including actors, actresses, reality tv contestants, tv personalities, musicians, singers, fashion models, professional athletes. Not only did Reyna view the celebrity passports, but she also viewed the passports of members of their families, including their children’s passports.
When news of this celebrity passport breach first broke, the FBI and other government authorities were trying to determine whether Reyna simply viewed the celebrity passports or if she collected or sold any of the confidential celebrity passport data.
At this time it seems that Reyna’s sole purpose for viewing the celebrity passport applications was her own curiosity.
Even though Rush Passport™ is the Celebrity Passport Expeditor to the Stars, you don’t have to be a celebrity to get a passport. If you are a US citizen and you would like to know how to get a US Passport or US Passport Card or if you would like to know about how to renew your US Passport or US Passport Card, visit us at http://www.rushpassport.com or call us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to speak with a Live Passport Agent. (877) 937-7277 (All 50 States) or (212) 643-9305 New York Passport Agency. Rush Passport™ Official US Passport Expeditors, serving Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, Staten Island, Manhattan, Westchester County, Nassau County & Suffolk County, Long Island, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Miami, Florida.