White House Follows New Path to Secrecy

The vice president's residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington is seen in the Sept. 11, 2000 file photo. According to government documents, the Secret Service routinely destroyed five of eight categories of information relating to visitors to Vice President Cheney's residence. (AP Photo/J Scott Applewhite) (J Scott Applewhite - Associated Press)

WASHINGTON -- In the past year, lawyers for President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney directed the Secret Service to maintain the confidentiality of visitor logs, declaring them to be presidential records.

The drive to keep secret the lists of visitors to the White House complex and Cheney's home, the administration says, is essential to ensuring the president and vice president receive candid advice to carry out their duties. The decision made the logs exempt from a law requiring their disclosure to whoever asks to see them.

The latest part of the strategy emerged this week when the government disclosed a letter from Cheney's counsel placing visitor logs for his personal residence on the Naval Observatory grounds in the category of presidential records.

The Secret Service is turning over all visitors' data to the White House.

"Every record from the U.S. Secret Service received by the White House or the office of the vice president is being preserved pursuant to the Presidential Records Act," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Friday.

Cheney's counsel wrote the Secret Service last September, stating the agency "shall not retain any copy of these documents and information" once the material is given to Cheney's office.

A week ago, the government filed court papers stating that the Secret Service is retaining copies of the visitor logs because of pending lawsuits, and that Cheney's office agrees with the decision.

A private group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, has filed two lawsuits under the Freedom of Information Act seeking Secret Service visitor logs. But the FOIA does not apply to presidential records.

The Bush administration has exploited that different treatment of records between the two laws, which prompted the fight in federal court. The administration is seeking dismissal of the lawsuits.

In trying to get the cases thrown out, the Justice Department has filed documents in court outlining a behind-the-scenes debate over whether Secret Service records are subject to public disclosure. The discussions date back at least to the administration of President Bush's father and involve the Justice Department and the National Archives as well as the White House and Secret Service.

The government's court filings show that the Bush White House focused on the issue in the months before Election Day 2004.

Discussions moved into high gear when the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal prompted news organizations and private groups to demand that the administration release Secret Service records of visitors to the White House complex and the vice president's residence.