May 30, 2007

Contact: Naomi Seligman Steiner 202.408.5565 press@citizensforethics.org

30 May 2007 //

In November 2006, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sued the Secret Service and the Archivist over the Secret Service's refusal to produce White House visitor records of conservative religious leaders in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from CREW. The Secret Service, at the direction of the White House, is taking the position that these records -- which are created as part of the Secret Service's performance of its statutorily-mandated function of protecting the President and Vice President -- are presidential not agency records and therefore not subject to disclosure under the FOIA. CREW is also suing the Archivist for his failure to take action to prevent the Secret Service from implementing its policy of destroying the visitor records once it has sent copies to the White House.

Late last week the government revealed that in September 2006, the Office of the Vice President sent a letter to the Secret Service directing the agency to turn over to the OVP all copies of visitor records it had pertaining to the Vice President's residence. The letter from Cheney's lawyer says logs for Cheney's residence on the grounds of the Naval Observatory are subject to the Presidential Records Act. Such a designation prevents the public from learning who visited the vice president. At the time this letter was sent, CREW had sued the Secret Service on an earlier FOIA request for visitor records that included records of visits to the Vice President's residence.

The original complaint and letter are attached to the right.