CREW Sues DHS and US Archivist for FOIA and FRA Violations

9 Nov 2006 // Today Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States, for violations of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Federal Records Act.

On October 4, 2006, CREW filed a FOIA request with DHS requesting that the Secret Service provide all records of visits that a list of specified religious leaders made to the White House and the residence of the vice president. CREW sought this information to ascertain the influence that conservative Christian leaders have on the Bush administration.

Even though the FOIA requires agencies to respond to requests within 20 business days, the Secret Service has never responded. Its personnel have refused to answer CREW’s questions about the status of CREW’s request, revealing that they have been instructed not to tell CREW anything.

CREW is also challenging as contrary to the Federal Records Act the policy of the Secret Service to destroy its copies of visitor records once it makes copies for the White House.

Finally, CREW is suing the Archivist of the United States for failing to fulfill his mandatory obligation under the Federal Records Act to initiate, through the Attorney General, an action to prevent the Secret Service from unlawfully destroying agency records.