Clinton NSA Sandy Berger caught stealing classified documents

[Exile_In_SJ]

From Little Green Footballs..


President Bill Clinton’s former national security adviser Sandy Berger is under investigation for taking highly classified terrorism documents from a secure reading room—and some of those documents are still missing: Clinton Adviser Probed in Terror Memos.

WASHINGTON - President Clinton’s national security adviser, Sandy Berger, is the focus of a criminal investigation after admitting he removed highly classified terrorism documents from a secure reading room during preparations for the Sept. 11 commission hearings, The Associated Press has learned.

Berger’s home and office were searched earlier this year by FBI agents armed with warrants. Some drafts of a sensitive after-action report on the Clinton administration’s handling of al-Qaida terror threats during the December 1999 millennium celebration are still missing.

Berger and his lawyer said Monday night he knowingly removed handwritten notes he had taken from classified anti-terror documents he reviewed at the National Archives by sticking them in his jacket and pants. He also inadvertently took copies of actual classified documents in a leather portfolio, they said.

“I deeply regret the sloppiness involved, but I had no intention of withholding documents from the commission, and to the contrary, to my knowledge, every document requested by the commission from the Clinton administration was produced,” Berger said in a statement to the AP.

UPDATE at 7/19/04 5:20:19 pm:

Please note this little tossed-off phrase in the middle of the AP’s story:

Berger served as Clinton’s national security adviser for all of the president’s second term and most recently has been informally advising Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.




I wonder why he took those documents? So he could see the dirt on Clinton and help prepare Clintons spin?

Tough week or so for democrat operatives, first Joe Wilson is shown to be a liar and now Clinton's NSA is accused of taking classified material, some of which is still missing..

[Sideburn]

Yeah I just saw this on the news....hmmmmmm

[Northman]

Originally Posted by Exile_In_SJ

From Little Green Footballs..


President Bill Clinton’s former national security adviser Sandy Berger is under investigation for taking highly classified terrorism documents from a secure reading room—and some of those documents are still missing: Clinton Adviser Probed in Terror Memos.

WASHINGTON - President Clinton’s national security adviser, Sandy Berger, is the focus of a criminal investigation after admitting he removed highly classified terrorism documents from a secure reading room during preparations for the Sept. 11 commission hearings, The Associated Press has learned.

Berger’s home and office were searched earlier this year by FBI agents armed with warrants. Some drafts of a sensitive after-action report on the Clinton administration’s handling of al-Qaida terror threats during the December 1999 millennium celebration are still missing.

Berger and his lawyer said Monday night he knowingly removed handwritten notes he had taken from classified anti-terror documents he reviewed at the National Archives by sticking them in his jacket and pants. He also inadvertently took copies of actual classified documents in a leather portfolio, they said.

“I deeply regret the sloppiness involved, but I had no intention of withholding documents from the commission, and to the contrary, to my knowledge, every document requested by the commission from the Clinton administration was produced,” Berger said in a statement to the AP.

UPDATE at 7/19/04 5:20:19 pm:

Please note this little tossed-off phrase in the middle of the AP’s story:

Berger served as Clinton’s national security adviser for all of the president’s second term and most recently has been informally advising Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.




I wonder why he took those documents? So he could see the dirt on Clinton and help prepare Clintons spin?

Tough week or so for democrat operatives, first Joe Wilson is shown to be a liar and now Clinton's NSA is accused of taking classified material, some of which is still missing..

hmm, very interesting. you think this had something to do with 9/11 in anyway?

[Exile_In_SJ]

huh? I doubt it had anythig to do with 9/11... what I think it was, was the documents lifted were unflattering to Clinton in his dealings about terrorism and Berger took them to help Clinton prepare his spin, if and when the information comes out.

[Northman]

Originally Posted by Exile_In_SJ

huh? I doubt it had anythig to do with 9/11... what I think it was, was the documents lifted were unflattering to Clinton in his dealings about terrorism and Berger took them to help Clinton prepare his spin, if and when the information comes out.

i must behind on the news regarding Clinton. why would they be confronting him about Terrorism now? my question about 9/11 was just whether or not he knew anything about threats that were made during his tenure. i just dont see the relevance (sp?) of this after all this time.

[Exile_In_SJ]

WASHINGTON - President Clinton’s national security adviser, Sandy Berger, is the focus of a criminal investigation after admitting he removed highly classified terrorism documents from a secure reading room during preparations for the Sept. 11 commission hearings, The Associated Press has learned.

since the majority of the planning for 9/11 was done under the Clinton years, and classified documents were taken intended for the 9/11 commission, this has relevence because Sandy Berger might be trying to cover Clintons tracks. Why else would he take the classified documents. He's acknowledged he did.

[Exile_In_SJ]

of course I admit it's supposition on my part. But it'll come out eventually why Berger would take classified documents.

[Northman]

Originally Posted by Exile_In_SJ

WASHINGTON - President Clinton’s national security adviser, Sandy Berger, is the focus of a criminal investigation after admitting he removed highly classified terrorism documents from a secure reading room during preparations for the Sept. 11 commission hearings, The Associated Press has learned.

since the majority of the planning for 9/11 was done under the Clinton years, and classified documents were taken intended for the 9/11 commission, this has relevence because Sandy Berger might be trying to cover Clintons tracks. Why else would he take the classified documents. He's acknowledged he did.

ah, ok. i see it now. i read over it too fast.

[Spider]

Rack his ass ....... Nail the Biatch to the wall .....
Bastard shouldnt have been able go in the same room as the Documents ......
The 9-11 commision is bigger then Democrats and Republicans , It is about how to prevent futher attacks ......... Screwing over or removing information for political reasons , that would help the commision , is treason ......
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5463586
By John Solomon
The Associated Press
Updated: 10:28 p.m. ET July 19, 2004WASHINGTON - President Clinton’s national security adviser, Sandy Berger, is the focus of a Justice Department investigation after removing highly classified terrorism documents and handwritten notes from a secure reading room during preparations for the Sept. 11 commission hearings, The Associated Press has learned.


Berger’s home and office were searched earlier this year by FBI agents armed with warrants after he voluntarily returned documents to the National Archives. However, still missing are some drafts of a sensitive after-action report on the Clinton administration’s handling of al-Qaida terror threats during the December 1999 millennium celebration.

Berger and his lawyer said Monday night he knowingly removed handwritten notes he had made while reading classified anti-terror documents at the archives by sticking them in his jacket and pants. He also inadvertently took copies of actual classified documents in a leather portfolio, they said.

“I deeply regret the sloppiness involved, but I had no intention of withholding documents from the commission, and to the contrary, to my knowledge, every document requested by the commission from the Clinton administration was produced,” Berger said in a statement to the AP.

Lanny Breuer, one of Berger’s attorneys, said his client has offered to cooperate fully with the investigation but had not yet been interviewed by the FBI or prosecutors. Berger has been told he is the subject of the criminal investigation, Breuer said.

There are federal laws strictly governing the handling of classified information, including prohibiting the unauthorized release or removal of such materials.

Berger served as Clinton’s national security adviser for all of the president’s second term and most recently has been informally advising Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Clinton asked Berger last year to review and select the administration documents that would be turned over to the commission.

The FBI searches of Berger’s home and office occurred after National Archives employees told agents they believed they saw Berger place documents in his clothing while reading sensitive Clinton administration papers and that some documents were then noticed missing, officials said.

When asked, Berger said he returned some classified documents that he found in his office and all of the handwritten notes he had taken from the secure room, but could not locate two or three copies of the highly classified millennium terror report.

“In the course of reviewing over several days thousands of pages of documents on behalf of the Clinton administration in connection with requests by the Sept. 11 commission, I inadvertently took a few documents from the Archives,” Berger said.

“When I was informed by the Archives that there were documents missing, I immediately returned everything I had except for a few documents that I apparently had accidentally discarded,” he said.

Breuer said Berger believed he was looking at copies of the classified documents, not originals.

NBC News
Panel won’t say whether 9/11 could have been stopped




Berger was allowed to take handwritten notes but also knew that taking his own notes out of the secure reading room was a “technical violation of Archive procedures, but it is not all clear to us this represents a violation of the law,” Breuer said.

Government and congressional officials familiar with the investigation, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because the probe involves classified materials, said the investigation remains active and no decision has been made on whether Berger should face criminal charges.

The officials said the missing documents were highly classified, and included critical assessments about the Clinton administration’s handling of the millennium terror threats as well as identification of America’s terror vulnerabilities at airports and seaports.

Berger testified at one of the commission’s public hearings about the Clinton administration’s approach to fighting terrorism. The former president answered the panel’s questions at a private meeting.

The former national security adviser himself had ordered his anti-terror czar Richard Clarke in early 2000 to write the after-action report and has spoken publicly about how the review brought to the forefront the realization that al-Qaida had reached America’s shores and required more attention.

Berger testified that during the millennium period, “we thwarted threats and I do believe it was important to bring the principals together on a frequent basis” to consider terror threats more regularly.

The missing documents involve two or three draft versions of the report as it was evolving and being refined by the Clinton administration, officials and lawyers say. The Archives is believed to have copies of some of the missing documents.

In the FBI search of his office, Berger also was found in possession of a small number of classified note cards containing his handwritten notes from the Middle East peace talks during the 1990s, but those are not a focus of the current criminal probe, officials and lawyers said.

Breuer said the Archives staff first raised concerns with Berger during an Oct. 2 review of documents that at least one copy of the post-millennium report he had reviewed earlier was missing. Berger was given a second copy that day, Breuer said.

Officials familiar with the investigation said Archives staff specially marked the documents and when the new copy and others disappeared, Archives officials called Clinton attorney Bruce Lindsey to report the disappearance.

Berger immediately returned all the notes he had taken, and conducted a search and located two copies of the classified documents on a messy desk in his office, Breuer said. An Archives official came to Berger’s home to collect those documents but Berger couldn’t locate the other missing copies, the lawyer said.

He retained counsel, and in January the FBI executed search warrants of a safe at Berger’s home as well as his business office where he found some of the documents. Agents also failed to locate the missing documents.

Justice Department officials have told the Sept. 11 commission of the Berger incident and the nature of the documents in case commissioners wanted more information, officials said. The commission is expected to release its final report Thursday.

Congressional intelligence committees, however, have not been formally notified.

“The House Intelligence Committee has not been informed on the loss or theft of any classified intelligence information from the Archives, but we will follow up and get the information that is appropriate for the committee to have,” the committee said Monday in a statement. “And if it has occurred, we should be informed. If there has been delay in getting the information to the committee we need to know why.”

Berger is the second high-level Clinton-era official to face controversy over taking classified information home.

Former CIA Director John Deutch was pardoned by Clinton just hours before Clinton left office in 2001 for taking home classified information and keeping it on unsecured computers at his home during his time at the CIA and Pentagon. Deutch was about to enter into a plea agreement for a misdemeanor charge of mishandling government secrets when the pardon was granted.

© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[TexanBob]

Kinda reminiscent of Hillary's chief-of-staff leaving Vince Foster's office with a folder full of documents before the police sealed off the scene...

[Spider]

Originally Posted by TexanBob

Kinda reminiscent of Hillary's chief-of-staff leaving Vince Foster's office with a folder full of documents before the police sealed off the scene...

Can you say Conspiracy theorist ........... We know Excile can

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Wouldn't make this a partisan thing, you don't "accidentally" walk out of a secure reading room with highly classified docs. He's got to covering someone's ass, but I wouldn't necessarily come to the conclusion it is Clinton's though.

[TexanBob]

Reported elsewhere that the security guards watched him shoving papers down his pants. Accidental Yeah, right. But there are still a lot of loose ends here. For one thing, this all took place in October, 2003. Why are they just now informing the public? And if guards saw him shoving papers into his pants and jacket, why did they not stop him and inspect him at the time? Fercryingoutloud, do these guards also work airport security?

There are some things about this story that just don't add up.

[Rascal]

Rack his ass ....... Nail the Biatch to the wall .....
Bastard shouldnt have been able go in the same room as the Documents ......
The 9-11 commision is bigger then Democrats and Republicans , It is about how to prevent futher attacks ......... Screwing over or removing information for political reasons , that would help the commision , is treason ......

REP for spider.

[Exile_In_SJ]

Originally Posted by §Pide®

Can you say Conspiracy theorist ........... We know Excile can

who's Excile?

[Exile_In_SJ]

I wonder how the media would be covering this if Condi Rice was stuffing classified document/notes in her bra? There'd be a huge cry about 'classified-gate' and the witch hunt would be on for Condi..

[Exile_In_SJ]

from Instapundit

Ed Morrissey is deconstructing the spin on this: "For my money, that's at least one 'inadvertently' too many, and that is not a literary criticism. Perhaps this explanation will fly for those who have never worked around classified documents, but since I spent three years producing such material, I can tell you that it's impossible to 'inadvertently' take or destroy them. . . . I find it highly suspect that the first expert the Post found to speak on this is Richard Clarke. How many of the partisans will come out of the woodwork? Next, we'll have Joe Wilson come out and claim that the documents never existed in the first place."

[Taco John]

If Berger committed a crime, he should be prosecuted.

I'll bet by the end of the week, the Republicans try to drag Kerry into this... Probably saying something like Berger was stealing the documents for Kerry or something.

And speaking of being prosecuted... Whatever happened to that whole Valerie Plame disgrace? Who got strung up for that treasonous move?

[Old Dude]

Every day that goes by, it gets harder to distinguish between politics, entertainment, sports, and naked fat men chasing sheep down the street.

[Taco John]

I still have an easy time recognizing the latter...

[Exile_In_SJ]

Originally Posted by Taco John

If Berger committed a crime, he should be prosecuted.

I'll bet by the end of the week, the Republicans try to drag Kerry into this... Probably saying something like Berger was stealing the documents for Kerry or something.

And speaking of being prosecuted... Whatever happened to that whole Valerie Plame disgrace? Who got strung up for that treasonous move?

It all depends on what John Kerry does and what they can prove Berger did. Berger is an unpaid adviser to Kerry and a potential Secretary of State candidate under a kerry Administration.

If it looks like Berger is gonna go down and Kerry doesn't drop him like a hot potato, then it'll get very interesting..

The Valerie Plame thing is ongoing, but I doubt much will come of it, her Husband being a liar may also reflect on her.. Who knows what she says was true?

[Taco John]

I bet by the end of the week, we start seeing headlines switch from "Clinton NSA Advisor, Sandy Berger," to "Kerry Advisor, Sandy Berger."

Just watch. This is new millenium politics here. It might even be tomorrow.

[RaiderH8r]

Originally Posted by Taco John

I bet by the end of the week, we start seeing headlines switch from "Clinton NSA Advisor, Sandy Berger," to "Kerry Advisor, Sandy Berger."

Just watch. This is new millenium politics here. It might even be tomorrow.

Both statements are true. However, I do see your point and I find it humerous. I'm sure it won't be, "Sandy Berger, former Clinton NSA Advisor". The name at the beginning is who the **** will stick to and in the mind of the viewer, will bear some culpability. Whether deserved or not.

[Exile_In_SJ]

that all depends on if Kerry keeps him.. if he lets him go, it'll be Clinton NSA..

if he keeps him around he'll be associated with him. But just imagine if the shoe was on the other foot.....

[Rohirrim]

More toilet bowl politics from the right. Berger made a stupid mistake - Allowed the FBI to take apart his home (warrants or not). Begged Ashcroft not to blow this out of proportion for politics (it's a misdemeanor). Apologized to everybody. And resigned as a Kerry advisor.

Hastert: Berger "pilfered" the documents.
DeLay: "Sounds like a third rate burglary to me."

And now the neocon attack dogs come out: Kerry, Kerry, Kerry.

Sounds to me like there's no "there" there. Of course for the party that smeared the the heroism of former combat veterans (although none of them are veterans) like McCain, Cleland and Kerry, this is just another smear opportunity.