US Senator asks USPS to investigate release of private personnel records

U.S. Senator Tom Carper has sent a letter to the United States Postal Service Acting Inspector General Tammy L. Whitcomb requesting a full investigation of the United States Postal Service’s release of the personnel file of Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District and former officer of the Central Intelligence Agency.

In the letter, Senator Carper wrote, “The release of Ms. Spanberger’s unredacted SF-86 to any individual or entity without her permission appears to be a violation of the law and calls into question the Postal Service’s processes for responding to FOIA requests and maintaining sensitive personnel records.”

The release of Spanberger’s sensitive personnel information, as requested by Republican-aligned research group America Rising through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), includes Spanberger’s federal security clearance application, known as the SF-86. The application covers a host of personal information, including full employment and residential history. Upon receiving the formerly classified information, America Rising then shared it with the Congressional Leadership fund.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has noted “human error” as the reason the FOIA request was approved.