Why did the Secret Service stop keeping copies of logs showing who visited the vice president's official residence? Because, it seems, a lawyer for Dick Cheney told the agency to destroy its copies after it turned over the originals to Cheney.
In a September 2006 letter, Cheney 's counsel, Shannen Coffin, told the Secret Service that it "shall not retain any copy" of the logs and should give any copies it does have to the Office of the Vice President "as soon as possible." As the Associated Press notes, the letter came just as the Washington Post was seeking copies of the visitor logs.
The Secret Service complied with Coffin's demand, but it has now begun keeping the records again in the face of a variety of pending lawsuits. Even so, Cheney's office is insisting that the documents are subject to the Presidential Records Act and thus shielded from public view.
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