By Bamidele Obah
The U-Metro has learnt that In February, a US Navy sailor unlawfully tried to access President Joe Biden’s official health records on three separate occasions, the Pentagon disclosed on Tuesday, July 9, 2024.
The sailor, whose identity has not been revealed, attempted to retrieve the 81-year-old president’s medical file from an internal government database on February 23. This occurred just five days before Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s physician, publicly released the results of the president’s annual physical exam.
According to Navy spokesman, Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, the sailor was assigned to the Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Hawkins stated, “A sailor searched the name ‘Joseph Biden’ in MHS Genesis, the Military Health System’s electronic health record, out of curiosity.” A colleague reported the sailor for breaching the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
The incident adds to the ongoing scrutiny of Biden’s health and mental acuity, which was highlighted after his underwhelming performance during the June 27 debate against Republican Donald Trump.
Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, clarified that the sailor did not access the actual health records of the president. “The record that the sailor inappropriately accessed was not the electronic health record of the president of the United States,” Ryder said. He also noted that the Secretary of Defense was informed of the breach in February, and the Navy communicated the issue to the White House through appropriate channels.
Following the discovery of the breach, the Navy Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) initiated an investigation, which concluded on April 24. Hawkins assured that “the MHS Genesis system is a secure health system and at no time was the President’s personal information compromised.”
The sailor received administrative punishment but remains on active duty, as reported by ABC News, citing US officials.
This announcement follows another data breach involving a service member earlier this year. In March, former Massachusetts National Guard member Jack Teixeira was sentenced to 16 years in prison for illegally accessing and leaking top-secret military plans concerning Russia’s war against Ukraine.
