Posted on 07/19/2004 5:07:42 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
AP: Clinton Adviser Probed in Terror Memos
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By JOHN SOLOMON
WASHINGTON - President Clinton (news - web sites)'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 (news - web sites) 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.
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 (news - web sites). Clinton asked Berger last year to review and select the administration documents that would be turned over to the commission.
The FBI searched Berger's home and office with warrants earlier this year after employees of the National Archives told agents they believed they witnessed Berger put documents into his clothing while reviewing sensitive Clinton administration papers, officials said.
When asked, Berger said he returned some of the classified documents, which he found in his office, and all of the handwritten notes he had taken from the secure room, but said he could not locate two or three copies of the highly classified millennium terror report.
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.yahoo.com ...
"it will dominate the internet"
It will dominate comedy too. The pants. Expect Clinton-pants jokes galore.
It also made the New York Times.
"To win the primary, the newcomer overcame the election eve arrest of his brother, Cameron, and campaign field director Thomas J. Vallely, both then 22, in the basement of a Lowell building that housed the headquarters of Kerry and another Democratic contender, state Representative Anthony R. DiFruscia of Lawrence. It was almost 2 a.m. - 30 hours before the polls opened - when the two were arrested on charges of breaking and entering with intent to commit larceny. That day's Sun blared a memorable, double-deck headline: "Kerry brother arrested in Lowell `Watergate."' DiFruscia, getting some extra ink in the campaign's waning hours, had drawn the parallel to the break-in at Democratic headquarters in Washington three months earlier. The Kerry camp declared it a setup, saying that the two responded to an anonymous phone call, minutes earlier, threatening to cut the campaign's 36 phone lines on the day before its get-out-the-vote effort. Lowell Police arrested the pair in an area near the trunk line for all of the building's phones. . . .
Hey, Sandy! Are those classified documents in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?
"Are they sure these are the only docs that Berger grabbed? Could there be anything else missing they either don't know or aren't talking about?"
Maybe not, but maybe copies of all docs were made...or maybe not all of them, like the "notes" - what's that, a yellow pad?
Liz thanks for the laugh...imagine this visual..
Here are the quotes I found most interesting in the Berger article:
"...to my knowledge, every document requested by the commission from the Clinton administration was produced," Berger said in a statement to the AP.We've listened to Clinton-speak long enough to know: IF HE STOLE THE DOCS AND THE COMMISSION DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THEM...THEY COULDN'T REQUEST THEM!!!
And the last line in the article:
The officials said the missing documents ...included...identification of America's terror vulnerabilities at airports to sea ports.Perhaps the "critical assessments" pointed out airport security weaknesses (Boston?). Berger would have been reading the reports with the benefit of knowing what happened on 9/11 and, maybe, the reports were damning in what they didn't do in 1999 to plug the holes.
The security mechanism is likely what tipped the FBI off in the first place. Audit trails. But we'll see.
Fat chance. That's why liberals hate Fox News. Without them we would never know half of what goes on with Democrat crooks and liars.
Pants jokes? You read my mind :)
im still p o-ed at the trashing of the white house. and very p o-ed that kissy face bush gave them a pass on it. grrrr!!
No doubt the Pantload was in cahoots with the Unzipped One.
I've been in one of these secure rooms. One guarded access route only..12 x 15 room, a single long table, six cameras with a guy observing from another room. Only a pencil and small pad for notes allowed. How the heck did he get away with it? Sure leads right back to Bubba.
What do you bet is shows they were in on the Oil For Food Scandal?
Well it only took 10 secs in on the thread to find that...didnt spend too much time there for sure!!! ;-)
Can you call your senators for me . Mine are John Kerry and Ted Kennedy.
I am so screwed!
"Do we think the Clintoons or the Kerry's may be behind this. What motivated Berger to risk his career, reputation, etc.
The exact timing of this theft, and the discovery of same would help explain the motivation."
What comes to my mind was that day in the 911 hearing when John Ashcroft exposed the Gorelick "wall", and suggested there was more where that came from.
I do not believe that Berger ever expected to get caught and it is telling that this event is months old and nobody leaked it.
Didn't Berger attend the Clinton/algore session with the 911 commission?
How the hell does someone like this get to be a National Security Advisor?
I've been to the National Archives. You are told ahead of time what you can do and can't do with the documents you are reading. The main rule you are told is that no original documents are allowed to leave the room. In Berger's case, I'm sure he was advised beforehand of note taking, copying, etc. He wasn't just put in a room and allowed to read these documents. He was thoroughly instructed on what he could and couldn't do. And with these items being classified documents, I'm sure the instructions to the readers were that much more intense.
I am sure they can be reproduced. Berger to Levenworth.
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