Passports of Rich & Famous on View

July 3, 2008— -- The confidential passport files of high-profile individuals have been accessed more frequently than previously thought, according to a new report obtained by ABC News.

The State Department Office of Inspector General report surveyed the files of 150 famous people and found that 127, or 85 percent, of them had their records accessed at least once. Nine of them had their records accessed more than 100 times, and nearly a third were accessed at least 25 times.

The names of the famous individuals were not released due to privacy concerns. Officials said today that the people in question have not yet been notified that their files may have been breached.

The 107-page report admits officials don't know yet if those were authorized accesses. "Although an 85 percent hit rate appears to be excessive, the Department currently lacks criteria to determine whether this is actually an inordinately high rate," the report states.

Florence Fultz, managing director of passport services at the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs, told reporters that it was "possible but unlikely" that all of the accesses were justified.

The heavily redacted report has no mention of the presidential candidates, but the investigation was sparked by reports that the records of Senators McCain, Clinton and Obama records were breached several times in the past year.

The State Department revealed today that one additional person has been fired in connection with accessing the records of the candidates. Another employee was also fired for unauthorized access to other individuals' records.

Such files contain personal information, including photographs. "The vast majority of our passport files contain only the passport application form. In more complicated cases, such as those involving a derivative citizenship determination, law enforcement issues, or possible fraud, we may keep originals or copies of other documents in the file. This represents only a very small percentage of our files," the State Department said in March.

The Inspector General report has raised concerns on Capitol Hill. Senator Joseph Biden, D-Del., has written a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, saying, "The report paints a very disturbing picture."

"To state it plainly, it appears to be a system-wide failure on the part of several bureaus in the Department. I urge you to conduct a management review to determine the causes of this failure, which were not within the scope of the Inspector General audit," Biden wrote in his letter to Rice, requesting that he receive a progress report from the State Department on implementation of the IG report's recommendations within 90 days.