Clinton & Kerry's Advisor in Cover Up

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Clinton & Kerry's Advisor in Cover Up
83
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: 04-18-2004
Wed, 07-21-2004 - 12:28pm

Hey palak,


I wish you would post more often.

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Wed, 07-21-2004 - 1:37pm
I said that he was wrong. He's guilty. And stupid. I'm not a very good apologist, am I.

What I do object to is the way the media and Repubican congressmen are hyping and distorting the story for political gain. Even you've still got it wrong..."And if it really was "inadvertent" or just plain "stupidity" it's hard to imagine him stuffing things into his clothing" One last time - he hid his notecards in his clothing. The archival documents were in a portfolio The notecard hiding was on purpose. The document taking was inadvertent.

<>

Or better yet, imagine how it would be portrayed if someone in the White House leaked the identity of a CIA agent to the press. Would that person resign the same week? Would Republicans admit it was a security breach or would they say that "well...everybody knew she was an agent already so it's not that bad."

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Wed, 07-21-2004 - 1:39pm
Thanks. Maybe I should hang it up too. I started to wonder when I found myself doing a google search for "Sandy Berger socks" last night. This is just getting silly.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
Wed, 07-21-2004 - 2:24pm
That was really nice of you Miffy to say that. You are the sweetest republican CL ever.... I try to post in between what I do for living at work. Once I go home my twin boys will turn the house upside down if I sit in front of computer ignoring them..At night I am too tired to even turn on the computer. But I will try my best just for you..:-)
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Wed, 07-21-2004 - 2:29pm
Aww!

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-23-2004
Wed, 07-21-2004 - 2:40pm


I was referring to your comment that the only person this hurts is Berger himself. Sounds like some very familiar apologizing to me. When our elected leaders (and their appointed advisors) break the law, I am of the opinion that it hurts us all. In this case, depending on what he took it could very well have national security implications, so to say it only hurts Berger is rather a leap in judgement IMO.



And once again, that's HIS story. Still no explanation as to why he had to hide ANYTHING. Sorry, I'm not buying that it was because he simply didn't want to have to deal with some peon reviewing his notes. Can't imagine he would have risked his entire reputation to avoid a couple of minutes (or hours even) of annoying procedure. This isn't some low level staffer-he was the National Security Advisor. And if he really is stupid enough to think that this was no big deal, than thank goodness he ISN'T the national security advisor any longer.

As far as this being released now for political reasons, I wouldn't even try to dispute that, but SO WHAT? Do you think the Dems wouldn't have used the same discovery in reverse for political reasons? It's not as though they are fabricating the story. We keep hearing how the Republicans are distorting it-the only distortion I have seen seems to be coming from Berger and his lawyer. Anyone who could really believe this is all just some big "Oops! I accidentally slipped some sensitive (10-15 page) terrorism documents into my briefcase!" is fooling themselves, IMO.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-23-2004
Wed, 07-21-2004 - 2:42pm


Last I heard, this was being investigated and the person responsible if found is presumably going to be prosecuted. But my understanding is that there is some question as to whether she had classified status or not-if she did not then no crime was committed.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Wed, 07-21-2004 - 6:10pm
You wrote: "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?"

If the documents are so important to the 9/11 Commission findings, then why didn't the Justice Department inform the commission about this a long time ago? They interviewed Berger in March. Their report comes out tomorrow. The news is a bit late, don't you think?

I can't find the article which says the 9/11 Commission was just learning of this, but here's a related bit.

"In his statement Monday, Berger said that every Clinton administration document requested by the Sept. 11 commission was provided to the panel. Berger also said he returned some classified documents and all his handwritten notes when he was asked about them, except for two or three copies of the millennium report that may have been thrown away.

Al Felzenberg, spokesman for the Sept. 11 commission, said the Berger investigation will have no bearing on the panel's highly anticipated report.

"This is a matter between the government and an individual," Felzenberg said. "They were not our documents, and we believe we have access to all the materials we need to see to do our report."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/19/national/main630625.shtml

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Wed, 07-21-2004 - 6:50pm

Here's another plausible senario:


"Allow me to suggest another possibility: the 9/11 Commission is due to release their report shortly. They have been informed of this investigation, but, as of the release date, it appears that the investigation will not have been resolved.


Isn't it at least possible that the Commission will have a cryptic, "CYA" sentence in the report mentioning irregularities in the handling of documents? Wouldn't they have to - if the Sandy Burglar criminal investigation eventually turns into something big, won't their report be tainted? And how will they explain the omission of any hint of that taint?


From which it follows, they can release the report with the cryptic (or maybe not-so-cryptic) hint, and await the distraction; or "they" can leak it now. And maybe it is someone from the Democratic side who would prefer that the press coverage of the report focus on Bush rather than mishandled documents.


Just a thought, and it is a theory which will be tested soon enough. "


http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2004/07/the_most_obviou.html

Renee ~~~

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-23-2004
Wed, 07-21-2004 - 7:22pm
An interesting theory, and from the little bit of preview of the commission's report that I've caught on the news today, it doesn't seem that there is much in the report that the Bush administration really needs to distract people from. From what I've heard the report assigns little specific blame to either the Bush or the Clinton administration, but rather cites long term, systematic breakdown as the reason 9/11 wasn't prevented. In any case, it seems to me if the GOP really wanted to use this for maximum political effect, they would have tossed it out there during the conventions, while Democratic euphoria is at its peak.

But talk about trying to distract! Rather than simply reporting the facts, we have newspapers already focusing on the idea that the Republicans are behind the whole thing-let's face it folks, no one is behind this but Sandy Berger. He can't blame the GOP for this one, I don't care if it was made public the day before the election. Stupidity or worse, he has no one to blame but himself.

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