Obama to reveal WH visitor logs

by Christi Parsons

President Obama is reversing White House policy on its visitor logs, records that previous administrations have kept under wraps.

In a statement issued from Camp David this morning, Obama said the White House will begin posting online each month the records of visitors from the past three or four months.

"For the first time in history, records of White House visitors will be made available to the public on an ongoing basis," Obama said in the written statement. "We will achieve our goal of making this administration the most open and transparent administration in history not only by opening the doors of the White House to more Americans, but by shining a light on the business conducted inside. Americans have a right to know whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process."

The decision resolves four lawsuits pending by a citizen watchdog group that originally brought its complaints to the Bush administration.

The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sought records reflecting the visits of Christian conservative leaders and lobbyist Stephen Payne to the Bush White House, but the administration argued that, even though the documents were created by the Secret Service, they should be protected as presidential records.

A U.S. district judge disagreed, ruling twice that the records were subject to the Freedom of Information Act, but the decisions were appealed by the government.

CREW renewed its objections when Obama took office, seeking records of visits to the White House by healthcare and coal executives in an attempt to figure out how they were influencing health care and energy talks. Obama's staff originally refused to give CREW the records.

With his decision, Obama reversed course. His administration becomes the first in presidential history to release such records.

But some names will be held back from public view because of national security and other concerns, the White House said.

The names of some visitors "cannot be disclosed because of national security imperatives or their necessarily confidential nature (such as a visit by a possible Supreme Court nominee)," the White House statement said. Aside from those, though, "The record of every visitor who comes to the White House for an appointment, a tour, or to conduct business will be released," the statement said.

CREW plans to drop its lawsuits.

"The Obama administration has proven its pledge to usher in a new era of government transparency was more than just a campaign promise," CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said today. "The Bush administration fought tooth and nail to keep secret the identities of those who visited the White House. In contrast, the Obama administration -- by putting visitor records on the White House website -- will have the most open White House in history."

There are notable exceptions to the new policy. For one thing, the names of those who pay personal visits to the Obama daughters will not be made public.

"Covert operatives" who meet with the president will also be kept secret, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said this morning. The point of the exception is to "protect those whose lives you could endanger" by revealing them, he said.

In addition, visitors such as potential Supreme Court nominees will not be disclosed immediately, Gibbs said, but the White House will report the number of such meetings they are holding back and then release the names later "when it is more appropriate to do so."

It's not clear if the new policy will apply to visits on Air Force One or at Camp David. Aides to the president said they would check.