July, 22 2009, 12:33pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jordan Libowitz,,jlibowitz@citizensforethics.org,.
CREW Sues Secret Service Over Refusal to Release White House Healthcare Exec Visitor Logs
Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is filing a lawsuit
against the Department of Homeland Security based on the refusal of the
Secret Service to provide CREW with White House visitor records under
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). CREW is seeking records of
visits by top health care executives in an effort to learn the extent
to which these industry players may have influenced the
administration's health care policy. Simultaneously, CREW
is requesting emergency relief in the form of a preliminary injunction
compelling the Secret Service to process the request on an expedited
basis, in view of the great public interest and debate on health care
policy and the pressure on Congress to pass legislation before the
August recess.
WASHINGTON
Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is filing a lawsuit
against the Department of Homeland Security based on the refusal of the
Secret Service to provide CREW with White House visitor records under
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). CREW is seeking records of
visits by top health care executives in an effort to learn the extent
to which these industry players may have influenced the
administration's health care policy. Simultaneously, CREW
is requesting emergency relief in the form of a preliminary injunction
compelling the Secret Service to process the request on an expedited
basis, in view of the great public interest and debate on health care
policy and the pressure on Congress to pass legislation before the
August recess.
In response to CREW's FOIA request,
the Obama administration has taken the same position as the Bush
administration that the records are presidential, not agency records,
and that they are exempt from release because of the possibility in
some instances they could reveal information protected by the
presidential communications privilege. Although the White House
suggested it was reviewing its policy on the release of visitor logs
last month when CREW filed a similar complaint
based on its request for records of visits by top coal company
executives, it has to date refused to make even a discretionary release
of any of the requested records. Every court to rule on the issue so
far has concluded the visitor records are agency records that must be
disclosed under the FOIA.
Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said today, "Right now,
the White House and Congress are debating colossal changes to the
American health care system and taxpayers have a right to know who is
sitting at the table influencing decision-makers. Unfortunately, the
administration is refusing to release the names, preferring backroom
politicking to transparency."
Read CREW's complaint and request for a preliminary injuction in the Related Documents section on the right. Click here to read the original FOIA request to the Secret Service.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting ethics and accountability in government and public life by targeting government officials -- regardless of party affiliation -- who sacrifice the common good to special interests. CREW advances its mission using a combination of research, litigation and media outreach.
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CPC Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said following the passage of the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2025 (H.R. 5009) that "it should alarm every American taxpayer that we are nearing a trillion-dollar annual budget for an agency rampant with waste, fraud, and abuse."
Jayapal, who was one of 140 lawmakers to oppose the package, emphasized that the Pentagon has failed seven consecutive annual audits.
Despite being the only federal agency to never have passed a federal audit, said Jayapal, the Department of Defense "continues to receive huge boosts to funding every year. Our constituents deserve better."
As Common Dreams reported last month, more than half of the department's annual budget now goes to military contractors that consistently overcharge the government, contributing to the Pentagon's inability to fully account for trillions of taxpayer dollars.
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The Constitution vests Congress, not the president, with the power to declare war (though presidents have used military force without getting the OK from Congress on multiple occasions in modern history, according to the National Constitution Center).
During the Cold War, when nuclear weapons policy was produced, speed was seen as essential to deterrence, according to Jon Wolfsthal, the director of global risk at the Federation of American Scientists, who wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post last year that makes a similar argument to Markey and Lieu.
"There is no reason today to rely on speedy decision-making during situations in which the United States might launch first. Even as relations with Moscow are at historic lows, we are worlds removed from the Cold War's dominant knife's-edge logic," he wrote.
While nuclear tensions today may not be quite as high as they were during the apex of the Cold War, fears of nuclear confrontation have been heightened due to poor relations between the United States and Russia over the ongoing war in Ukraine, among other issues. Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree lowering the threshold for potential nuclear weapons use not long after the U.S. greenlit Ukraine's use of U.S.-supplied long range weapons in its fight against Russia.
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"Amnesty International found that Israeli forces unlawfully struck residential buildings in the village of al-Ain in northern Bekaa on September 29, the village of Aitou in northern Lebanon on October 14, and in Baalbeck city on October 21," the rights group said. "Israeli forces also unlawfully attacked the municipal headquarters in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on October 16."
Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty's senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns, said in a statement that "these four attacks are emblematic of Israel's shocking disregard for civilian lives in Lebanon and their willingness to flout international law."
The September 29 attack "destroyed the house of the Syrian al-Shaar family, killing all nine members of the family who were sleeping inside," the report states.
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On October 16, Israel bombed the Nabatieh municipal complex, killing Mayor Ahmad Khalil and 10 other people.
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As the report notes:
A fragment of the munition found at the site of the attack was analyzed by an Amnesty International weapons expert and based upon its size, shape, and the scalloped edges of the heavy metal casing, identified as most likely a MK-80 series aerial bomb, which would mean it was at least a 500-pound bomb. The United States is the primary supplier of these types of munitions to Israel.
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