The administration of President Barack Obama, when boasting about Obama’s record on openness and transparency, regularly cites how it is now releasing White House visitor logs. It has been an “achievement” the administration explicitly mentions during Sunshine Week, a week where journalists and open government advocates celebrate transparency in government.

As the pieces of the Aaron Swartz case slowly come together it seems one government agency may be unwilling to comply with the law. Jason Leopold, the Lead Investigative Reporter at Truthout, was denied a Freedom Of Information Act request by the Secret Service. The reason given for the denial? The Aaron Swartz case is still open.

A man who confronted then-Vice President Dick Cheney over the Iraq War and was arrested by Secret Service agents for “assaulting” Cheney had his appeal to the Supreme Court unanimously rejected.

As the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Chicago nears, the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and activists are urging the United States Secret Service make public their security plan for McCormick Place, where the summit is to be held, by Monday, April 23. The ACLU maintains specific details on the security perimeter must be released so that the community can decide if the Secret Service will be violating the First Amendment rights of people, who intend to demonstrate at the summit.

It now appears that the global scope of America’s security mission, given this morally repugnant and clinically insane definition of who we are and what we’re entitled to do, has egregiously overreached our ability to select the most disciplined and worthy defenders. We’re out of control, and the so-called rogues are now defining who we are.

Dayen’s news roundup from April 15, 2012, when instead of doing his taxes, he was reading stories about Iran’s nuclear program, World Bank, UN advisers, Summit of the America’s, Secret Service, Sheila Bair, Elliot Spitzer, Judge Lippman, JP Morgan, North Korea, SOPA, NLRB, Sarkozy, and more.

Mitten$ Rmoney and Rick “Frothy” Santorum’s Secret Service code names–which the candidates chose themselves–reflect a certain cockiness and focus on their manliness.

On 7 October, Greenpeace filed a lawsuit in Superior Court for the District of Columbia against Dow Chemical, Sasol North America (owned by the South African State Oil Company), two public relations firms – Dezenhall Resources and Ketchum – and four individuals. The suit is the result of the companies’ efforts to stop Greenpeace from exposing the effects of their pollution.

An email chain turned over by the Department of Homeland Security in response to a subpoena in the Dan Choi case reveal that it was the White House that tipped off the Secret Service with the information that 3 days later there would be a DADT protest in front of the White House. Brian Bond, Deputy Director of Public Engagement, sent an email to then-Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, Dan Pfeiffer, Melody Barnes, Tina Tchen, Dan Pfeiffer, Shin Inouye and others telling them he had it on “pretty good authority” that “Choi will be a part of it.”

How did the Secret Service and Department of Interior know about the protest ahead of time? Dan and the other members of the White House 13 did not disclose publicly that they would be taking part in this action.

Dan and his lawyers tried to compel the government to produce the Secret Service’s emails and other documents that would indicate the government was singling out Choi for punishment, but AUSA George maintained that it was not relevant to the case of whether or not Dan broke the law by chaining himself to the White House fence. Judge Facciola ruled in Dan’s favor and demanded the government turn over the documents, prompting George to seek a delay while she prepares a writ of mandamus. Dan will return to court in a few weeks after a decision has been made on the writ.