Hill staffers: Spanberger’s records released because employee misunderstood request

By Laura Vozzella & Jenna Portnoy, Wash. Post, Aug. 31, 2018 

The U.S. Postal Service’s extraordinary release of sensitive personal information about an ex-CIA officer running for Congress resulted from an employee mishandling a public-information request, according to two congressional aides briefed on the matter.

Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat trying to unseat Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), touts her experience as a former intelligence officer and postal inspector. So on July 9, GOP opposition researchers with the organization America Rising filed a public records request with the federal government, seeking basic employment information.

The Postal Service told congressional aides in a briefing Thursday that an employee in a new position, who had not been properly trained, mistakenly treated the request as if Spanberger were asking for her own records.

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