Secret Service must hand over Abramoff logs

The Secret Service has 18 days to hand over White House visitor logs detailing disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s visits, according to Judicial Watch, a public interest legal group. 

Judicial Watch on Thursday announced that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia earlier in the week ruled against the Secret Service motion to dismiss the group’s open-records requests. The court’s Tuesday decision ordered the agency to finish processing the requests and provide all non-exempt records within 20 days of the court order.

{mosads}The court ruled that the Secret Service violated the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by not thoroughly searching White House visitor records that could contain information about Abramoff’s visits. The Secret Service had argued that these additional visitor records, called “Sensitive Security Records,” were so secret that the agency could neither confirm nor deny their existence.

It has been three years since Judicial Watch filed a FOIA request with the Secret Service seeking all White House visitor logs from Jan. 1, 2001, to the present time. After the Secret Service failed to respond, Judicial Watch filed lawsuits on Feb. 22, 2006, and April 25, 2006. The Secret Service’s response to a previous court order was incomplete, so Judicial Watch continued to press its legal case.

"The court has obviously had enough of the gamesmanship by the Secret Service," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.  "We're very pleased with the court's ruling. This is a tremendous victory for transparency in government. In this case, we hope the Bush administration stops trying to evade FOIA law."