Abramoff White House Logs Mystery Solved!

[RedEarth]

Abramoff White House Logs Mystery Solved!
By Paul Kiel - May 17, 2006, 4:10 PM
Aha! Consider this a lesson in the fine art of the FOIA request.

Last week, the Secret Service turned over its records of Jack Abramoff's White House visits to Judicial Watch. The records indicated a paltry two visits - an unbelievably low tally.

Everybody knew that Judicial Watch had gotten the shaft. It just wasn't clear how.

Well, here's how: the Secret Service doesn't have the records - the White House does. That's because the Secret Service transfers their more comprehensive visitor logs, called WAVES (Workers Appointments and Visitors Entry System) records, to the White House every 60 days. If Judicial Watch, or anyone else, wants to find out how often Jack Abramoff visited the White House, they'll have to FOIA (and then probably sue) the Executive Office of the President. All they'll get from the Secret Service are Access Control Records, which, as we found out last Wednesday, don't tell you very much.

This comes from court documents filed by the Secret Service yesterday. Angry at what little they received from the Secret Service, Judicial Watch has renewed their suit against the agency, but the Secret Service is arguing that they have nothing more to give. To explain why, the Secret Service agent in charge of FOIA requests explained how their record keeping works:

more........

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000674.php

[leveymg]

1. Consider this a lesson in the fine art of political stalling and

dirty tricks.

There is such a thing as poisoning the well of litigation and using a legal double-agent to do it.

Judicial Watch is the last outfit I would trust to do this kind of litigation. Someone else needs to file another action.

[phoebe]

2. this article is worth looking at - remember the WH wasn't able to give

good info. on Enron personnel coming and going. Other info. in this article has the alarm bells going off as well..

http://www.apfn.net/messageboard/9-18-02/discussion.cgi.35.shtml

snip

National-security concerns also have been raised concerning the ownership of
the lead contractor on the system, a company called Ultrak Inc. After
Ultrak's stock price tanked to around $1 last year, controlling interest in
the Lewisville, Texas, company was acquired by Niklaus Zenger, a resident of
Switzerland. Zenger, now Ultrak's new chief executive officer (CEO), also
has ties to the Russian government, leading some security experts to worry
about what now is a foreign-owned company having gained access to highly
sensitive data concerning every aspect of who goes in and out of the White
House and when.

Critics of the system spoke to Insight with reluctance. All have tremendous
respect for the Secret Service and the courageous agents who put their lives
on the line to protect the president and the country. But, as one critic put
it, "The new access-control system potentially poses, at best, embarrassment
and, at worst, a threat to those whom it is intended to help protect: the
president, vice president, government employees and Secret Service officers
who are charged with the physical protection of the White House complex and
its occupants."

snip

Another source says the system also was found to be working improperly
earlier this year when it had difficulty retrieving the dates and times of
arrivals and departures of Enron officials visiting the White House. These
records were needed for investigations of the Enron scandal.

snip

Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission confirm that Zenger is a
resident of Switzerland, but press reports show he has close ties with
Russia. According to the Financial Times, Zenger worked as a consultant for
the state-owned Tass news agency. Oddly, the article didn't specify whether
he worked there before or after the fall of the Soviet Union. But the
British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) reported that, in 1992, Zenger led a
delegation touring the nuclear facilities of Arzamas-16, set up under the
Soviet Union as its nuclear-weapons command center. Zenger was shown "the
technology of making parts using powder and highly durable materials,
various ways of using the energy of a directed explosion for dividing bulky
metal structures," according to the BBC translation of a Tass report.
According to the Financial Times, Zenger also has worked as a consultant to
the United Nations and is "a lawyer who is fluent is six languages."

[TankLV]

14. "Another source says the system also was found to be working improperly

earlier this year when it had difficulty retrieving the dates and times of arrivals and departures of Enron officials visiting the White House"

However, it was also misteriously discovered that ANY and ALL things related to the Clinton's White House - all 8 yearswas - conveniently sorted and cataloged by person, date, subject, race, sex and political party affiliation, and readily available to all repukes only! What a cooincidence!

[Geoff R. Casavant]

3. Absolute Horseshit

I've processed more than a few FOIA claims in my day, and IIRC the FOIA instructions clearly say if your agency doesn't maintain the records, but you know of a different agency that does, you must forward the request to that other agency, and inform the requestor that you have done so.

[DRoseDARs]

4. Well, this administration IS the master of the bait-and-switch... n/t

:shrug:

[napi21]

5. Boy, I think we're all getting a condensed course in law here!

Having spent more hours dealing with lawwyers and law suits, I thought I was at least decent in recognizing how things are hidden, and the many excuses people use to crawl out from under a problem, but ShrubCo is REALLY giving us all an education!

Now that I think aobut it, if you plan in advance, and transfer all your data records to someone else PRIOR to a subpoena asking for them, you really can say "hey, this is all I have!"

I'm not prepared to use the word "credit" but these guys sure are good at manuvering around the law!

[phoebe]

8. Any cryptologists out there who can explain how this is being done?

n/t

[Justice Is Comin]

9. Not if you're

transferring them in anticipation of a subpoena. That would be no different than hiding of assets.

Who provided all the visitation logs of Monica Lewinsky? Wasn't that the Secret Service?

Judicial Watch needs to bring this in front of a judge now.

[napi21]

11. I suspect that would be difficult to prove.

If the WH said they just weren't happy with the system the way it was, so they changed it, you're back to guessing what was in someone's mind at the time.

HowEVER, Judicial Watch, as described by a poster the other day, is like a nasty little terrier dog, who keeps biting at your ankels until you finally give up what they want.

I was really pi**ed off at them when they were hounding Clinton, but they never do give up until they get what they're looking for. Look out ShrubCo, they haven't forgotton this by any stretch!

[dogday]

6. Records, You Don't Need No Stinkin Records!!

That is about the 500th time this administration has said this...

Does anyone else think it is getting old?

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Fuckers ......

typical .....

[Roland99]

12. Took the word right out of my mouth

[Mr_Spock]

10. Mother effing sons-of-bitches!

I pay the salary of these bastards?

I want my money back!

[tridim]

13. Scaife's Judicial Watch got exactly what they wanted.. Nothing.

Judicial Watch is just as evil as BushCo.

[Botany]

15. Rick I am shocked ... shocked to find gambling here