Third Individual Pleads Guilty to Illegally Accessing Confidential Passport Files

The U.S. Department of Justice reports in its press release (quotation, not an independent finding): “WASHINGTON – A third individual pleaded guilty today to illegally accessing numerous confidential passport application files, Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division announced. Gerald R. Lueders, 65, of Woodbridge, Va., pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a one-count criminal information charging him with unauthorized computer access. According to court documents, from June 1974 through September 2001, Lueders served as a Foreign Service Officer at the State Department. From fall 2005 to February 2008, he worked as a watch officer within the Office of Consular Affairs. Lueders has also been a retired annuitant since October 2001, serving as a recruitment coordinator in various State Department bureaus. According to information contained in plea documents, Lueders admitted he had access to official State Department computer databases in the regular course of his employment, including the Passport Information Electronic Records System (PIERS), which contains, among other data, all imaged passport applications dating back to 1994. The imaged passport applications on PIERS contain, among other things, a photograph of the passport applicant as well as certain personal information including the applicant’s full name, date and place of birth, current address, telephone numbers, parent information, spouse’s name and emergency contact information. These confidential files are protected by the Privacy Act of 1974, and access by State Department employees is strictly limited to of”