The revelation that the passport files of all three of the leading presidential candidates have been breached is prompting Congress to consider whether to examine the State Department’s oversight of sensitive personal information, according to congressional aides.

The State Department has promised a full investigation into the breaches of the passport files for Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) and the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

The department went into damage-control mode Friday, holding staff briefings with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and with the Senate offices affected by the breach. The embarrassing revelation also prompted an apology by Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of State, to Obama and Clinton.

The State Department fired two contractors and disciplined a third after the revelation of the unauthorized viewing of Obama’s files, Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the department, said Thursday.

“Sen. Clinton will closely monitor the State Department's investigation into this and the other breaches of private passport information,” a statement from Clinton’s Senate office said Friday.

The department has not yet released the names of the employees who reviewed the passport records, prompting House Oversight panel Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) to fire off a letter to Rice requesting the names to be disclosed by Monday.

“I am writing to request that you provide the Oversight Committee by Monday with the identities of the companies involved in these breaches,” Waxman said Friday. “I also believe this information should be made publicly available."  

Democratic aides said Friday that Waxman’s panel and the Senate Foreign Relations  Committee are also weighing next steps, and that hearings and investigations into the breaches were possible.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Joseph Biden (D-Del.) called Thursday night for an internal State Department investigation, and said far more information into the breaches needed to be disclosed.

"Firing or disciplining those responsible is an important first step," Biden said. "But we need to understand why these employees had access to this information in the first place, why they sought the information, and why it took over two months for this matter to come to light."