America's undisclosed vice president

America's undisclosed vice president | csmonitor.com:

Washington - Dick Cheney, he of the undisclosed location, is at it again. He's keeping secrets.

You may recall that early in the Bush administration, the vice president refused to disclose which energy companies he had consulted on energy policy. He fought that issue up through the courts and won.

Recently, we learned that Mr. Cheney sought to override the Justice Department's objections to a secret surveillance program. The vice president's office even blocked the promotion of a senior Justice Department official who had opposed the surveillance operation.

It turns out that Cheney and other White House officials attended a secret meeting in March 2004. They wanted Attorney General John Ashcroft, from his hospital bed, to approve the continuation of the possibly illegal surveillance program. To his credit, Ashcroft refused.

And we learned about another of Cheney's furtive ways this past week. The Secret Service recently ended the practice of keeping logs of visitors to the president and the vice president.