Clinton & Kerry's Advisor in Cover Up

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Registered: 06-17-2004
Clinton & Kerry's Advisor in Cover Up
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Mon, 07-19-2004 - 11:39pm

Sandy Berger, Clinton Sec Advisor & Kerry Campaign Advisor Under Investigation


http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040720/D83U6TIO0.html


WASHINGTON (AP) - 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.

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.

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 to sea ports.

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.



Renee ~~~




Edited 7/20/2004 12:22 am ET ET by cl-wrhen

Renee ~~~

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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Tue, 07-20-2004 - 12:07am

More:

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Tue, 07-20-2004 - 12:44am

<<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. >>


The ap is showing a bit of delicacy.

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 07-20-2004 - 7:54am
He was asked to testify before 911 commission regarding the 2000 incident that they successfully twarted. He reviewed thousands and thousands of pages. He made some 3x5 index cards and took some COPIES of documents that he was reading.The originals NEVER left the building. The documents were never missing so he was clearly not trying to hide them. I suppose Republicans are trying to insinuate that he was trying to hide something damaging to the Clinton administration? It is sooooooooo obvious that the sudden release about an investigation that has been going on since the FALL is politically motivated. It is all of a sudden leaked out the week the 911 commission report is due out! Rove/Bush administration fingerprints are all over this one. They are DIRTY and SLEAZY. However, what goes around, comes around and they will all get theirs in the end. The American people are NOT stupid. Only the very partisan people that are desperate to see Bush re-elected will see this as some HUGE bombshell!
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Tue, 07-20-2004 - 11:53am

So what was he trying to do by stuffing the reports down his pants?


He was Clinton's NS Advisor for goodness sakes! This is so beyond the pale that there is no excuse for what he did.


Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2003
Tue, 07-20-2004 - 12:05pm
Ok, coming out of lurkdom. Are you saying that the media has it all wrong? That there are not missing documents? That Mr Burger is being misquoted regarding 'inadvertently' taking documents that weren't supposed to be removed and then 'accidently' discarding some them?

Honestly, if such a thing happened with the current administration, especially when documents regarding terrorism, were suddenly and inadvertenly destroyed just prior to a commission to get to the truth, I'd be very suspect, I'm very suspect of this also. I'm wondering now if there was something to hide in those dicarded written notes that might support or discredit Pres. Bush and his administrations decisions to pursue a war in Iraq against terror. Unfortunately, we will never know. Considering that these documents may potentially be important to the 9/11 commissions findings, don't you think that this is a worthy inquiry, not a conspiratorial witch hunt? Personally, I think it's important to find out exactly how our country ended up in a war that, as it now seems, may have been partially rooted in anything from weak to just plain faulty intelligence. It's that the whole purpose of the investigation in the first place. Or maybe I'm just way too idealistic when it comes to politics, and the real motto of all is 'winning at all costs'
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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-03-2003
Tue, 07-20-2004 - 1:36pm
Ummm, this would be wrong... "The originals NEVER left the building. The documents were never missing so he was clearly not trying to hide them."

From CNN.com...

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/07/20/berger.probe/index.html

"In a statement, Berger acknowledged that he removed his handwritten notes without first having them reviewed for sensitive information, and he also said he "inadvertently" removed some of the classified documents he had reviewed during his time at the Archives."

So he by his own admission did in fact remove classified, original documents from the National Archives.

"Rove/Bush administration fingerprints are all over this one. They are DIRTY and SLEAZY."

And they aren't the ones who removed classified documents without proper authorization. Not saying this is or isn't a big deal, but Berger did screw-up and remove the documents in question.

~mark~

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 07-20-2004 - 4:14pm
This is the Shrub and his merry gang of liars attempting to change the subject. They don't want to discuss the 9/11 hearing report. All these fools can do is sling mud. Why don't they try answering a few questions for the American people. Where are those WMD in Iraq? Did you have an exit plan for Iraq? How was Iraq a threat to this country. Why did you out a CIA agent? How about apologizing to the American people for an illegal and immoral war in Iraq? Oh ! Oh! I keep forgetting the Shrub and Cheney the Cheater are never wrong! They are always right! Can we please impeach this fool!
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Tue, 07-20-2004 - 4:48pm

Who better to contemplate the meaning of

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Tue, 07-20-2004 - 6:37pm
No...that would be correct.

"In a statement, Berger acknowledged that he removed his handwritten notes without first having them reviewed for sensitive information, and he also said he "inadvertently" removed some of the classified documents he had reviewed during his time at the Archives."

What you're overlooking is that the phrase "some of the classified documents" refers to copies, which are also classified. The copies are "classified documents." See? In asserting that he didn't take the originals, people are making the case that it was indeed inadvertant. Why steal a copy?

For that matter, why steal a couple of early versions of a memo that you asked someone to write to yourself, that you already read four and a half years ago? That's why it's so amazing to me that Republican congressmen are accusing Berger of then handing this "top secret information" over to the Kerry Campaign so that they could criticize Bush on air and seaport security. They don't need a memo! The have Sandy Berger! Just ask him about air and sea port security! He was the National Security Advisor! Need more information? They've got Rand Beers! Beers could make one phonecall and ask his friend Richard Clarke - who wrote the memo in the first place - what he thinks about air and sea port security. It's beyond silly...unless of course the Republicans have simply forgotten that this is information the National Security Advisor is supposed to have a working knowledge of.

Here's what Richard Clarke, who wrote the memos, has to say about it:

"Clarke said it is illogical to assume Berger would have sought to hide versions of the memo, because "everybody in town had copies of these things." He said he could not recall most of the recommendations, but one that he did remember -- having FBI field offices send wiretap material to Washington for translation instead of translating it locally -- still has not been accomplished. "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62776-2004Jul19.html

It does seem like Berger is guilty of not handing his notes over to be screened before leaving with them. He shouldn't have done that.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-03-2003
Tue, 07-20-2004 - 7:10pm
Nothing in the CNN article I linked says anything about those documents being "copies" of other documents. There were some "copies of drafts" in among the various documents taken, but not all the documents in question were copies.

"In asserting that he didn't take the originals, people are making the case that it was indeed inadvertant."

Don't care if it was inadvertant or not. The issue raised by Happy2 was that no original documents were taken, and the CNN article refutes that argument. At best, it fails to make note of the fact that the documents which weren't copies made by Berger were copies of archival documents themselves.

BTW, couldn't read the link you post. Not subscribed on Washington Post.

~mark~

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