Condoleezza Rice apologizes to Obama, Clinton after passport security breach

Shortly after the news was reported about Obama, news agencies learned that the passport files of Sen. Hillary Clinton had also been breached, and Secretary Rice apologized to her as well.

The disclosure left some on-air commentators speculating about a "conspiracy" against Democratic candidates. But the storyline was short-lived. At noon on Friday, a State Department official confirmed that the passport files of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) had also been breached, according to a report on MSNBC.

NBC News State Department correspondent Andrea Mitchell, appearing on MSNBC this afternoon, said the news "undercuts" the department's argument that its warning system works in alerting senior officials of potential security breaches.

A spokesman for the State Department reported today that the breach of Sen. Clinton's file was related to training error in which a new trainee typed in the senator's name last year and was immediately reprimanded, apparently before the senator's personal information was compromised.