Secret Service agrees to stop erasing White House visitor log data

The Secret Service has agreed to stop erasing White House visitor log data while a lawsuit demanding public access to some of the information goes forward. Justice Department lawyers said in a court filing Aug 22 that, pending resolution of the case, the Secret Service will suspend its practice of disposing of the information after it is transferred to a White House records repository. “Although not necessary to preserve the requested records, the Secret Service has stated that it will retain copies of all [appointment and visitor entry] data during the pendency of this litigation, and Secret Service has suspended auto-delete functions,” Justice Department lawyer Julie Straus Harris wrote in response to a lawsuit brought by the Public Citizen watchdog group. Who holds the information can have a pivotal impact on the public’s ability to access the data in a timely way.