A federal appeals court ruled that the Secret Service could withhold logs of visitors cleared to see President Barack Obama or his advisers. The court held that the files established to conduct background checks and admit visitors were not covered by the Freedom of Information Act. (Politico, September 2, 2013, by Josh Gerstein)
Some feel that ruling based on a technicality is a serious blow to transparency. The chief judge argued that a 2006 “Memorandum of Understanding” between the White House and Secret Service allowed the records to be kept by the White House which is not a federal agency and not governed by the Freedom of Information Act. (policymic, September 2, 2013, by Ivan Glinski)
The court did rule that records of visitors not going to the president’s office were governed by the FOIA and must be disclosed. Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch that filed the suit for the logs said that the Obama administration could have keep the most sensitive meetings secret while disclosing the others. (Bloomberg News, August 30, 2013, by Andrew Zajac)