WASHINGTON – A US Navy sailor was caught unlawfully attempting to pull up President Biden’s official health records three times in February, the Pentagon revealed Tuesday.
The unnamed service member tried to access the 81-year-old president’s restricted medical file while trawling an internal government database on Feb. 23 – five days before presidential physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor publicly released the results of Biden’s annual physical exam.
“A sailor assigned to [Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command in Fort Belvoir, Va.] searched the name ‘Joseph Biden’ in MHS Genesis, the Military Health System’s electronic health record, out of curiosity,” Navy spokesman Cmdr. Tim Hawkins said in a statement.
“A co-worker reported the sailor’s breach of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA),” he added.
The news comes as questions persist about Biden’s health and mental capacity following his abysmal performance on the debate stage June 27 against Republican Donald Trump.
“The record that the sailor inappropriately accessed was not the electronic health record of the president of the United States,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, said Tuesday.
“The Secretary [of Defense] was notified in February when the Navy became aware,” Ryder added. “The Navy also notified the White House through channels at the time.”
Upon learning of the privacy breech, the Navy Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) launched an investigation, which Hawkins said wrapped up on April 24.
“The MHS Genesis system is a secure health system and at no time was the President’s personal information compromised,” he said.
The culprit received an administrative punishment and continues to serve as an active-duty sailor, ABC News reported, citing US officials.
Tuesday’s announcement confirms yet another data breech by a uniformed service member.
In March, former Massachusetts National Guard member Jack Teixeira was sentenced to 16 years in prison for illegally accessing top secret military plans concerning Russia’s war against Ukraine and leaking them online.
