FACTBOX: Obama, Clinton, McCain passport files breached

(Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Friday that employees had improperly viewed the passport files of all three major presidential candidates: Democrats Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton and Republican Sen. John McCain.

Here are the main facts of the case, as disclosed by the State Department.

-- On Thursday, the State Department said three contract employees, apparently acting independently and without any political motivation, looked at Obama's computerized passport file without authorization.

-- The three workers were employed by Stanley Corp and the Analysis Corp, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Friday.

-- There are about 180 million to 200 million passport files in the government's system, the State Department said.

-- The incidents took place on January 9, February 21, and March 14 in three places. In the first two cases, the contract employees were fired by their companies. The third case remains under investigation and the person concerned is still employed but no longer has access to such information.

-- Lower-level State Department officials knew about the incidents as they took place but failed to inform senior managers, who found out about them on Thursday.

-- State Department spokesman McCormack said he first learned Obama's passport file had been breached when he got an e-mail inquiry from a reporter on Thursday. McCormack, in turn, informed Undersecretary of State for Management Pat Kennedy.

-- Kennedy on Thursday asked the State Department's acting inspector general William Todd -- who conducts independent audits within the department -- to investigate.