Speaker Hastert on Congressional Investigation Regarding National Security and Sandy Berger

WASHINGTON, July 21 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) today made the following statement:

"Like many Americans concerned about our national security, I look forward to learning more from the House Government Reform Committee's investigation into the wayward actions by Sandy Berger. The American people deserve to know why Mr. Berger apparently skirted the law and removed highly classified terrorism documents, purportedly in his pants, from a secure reading room at the National Archives and then proceeded to lose or destroy some of them.

"Was Mr. Berger trying to cover-up key facts regarding intelligence failures during his watch?

"I know Chairman Tom Davis (R-Va.) will work to get the full truth of what really happened and help all of us better understand why Sandy Berger, a person who should fully understand the gravity and importance of sensitive national security materials, would operate with such overt negligence and apparent disregard for the law."

How much more blatant criminal activity are the law abiding citizens of the USA going to take without making it a national cry that our government bureaucratics start taking some responsibility and accountability for these pernicious and despicable acts against us.

And furthermore, why should we even think to be concerned about the rule of law when they aren't? Those that are entrusted by us and our Constitution to defend, protect and uphold it.

And as far as the democrats being so concerned about the "timing of the leak". I'm very glad someone did.

It's obvious Samuel Berger still wears his Clinton kneepads with complete obedience so much so that he would risk our lives, his families, and his own reputation to do Clinton's bidding. Sick...very sick. I guess Berger is just another notch in the zipper of Bill Clinton when added to the list of suckers for Bill and Hillary?

The Lib talking points have been written and orders issued. Every...single...Dem interviewed about this answers by yelling, "This is an ambush before the Dem Convention! How dare the Repubs do this!" And the Drooling Lapdog Press (DLP) is marching in lock step with the Lib liars.

Well not every one..... A Democratic guy appeared on the MSNBC show Scarborough Country said that the information was released by Sandy Burger and his attorney prior to the DemonicRat Convention because the Kerry camp said we must get this bad news out before the Convention.... i.e. they forced Berger to release it.... of course now all the DemonicRats can accuse the Bush Administration of a deliberate release prior to their convention.. Pretty slick... a real towfer!!!!

That is somewhere toward the bottom of this thread:

LIVE THREAD: Hardball's 12 Missed Chances That Could Have Prevented 9/11

Start with this I think....

_____________________________________________________________

To: Mo1

O'Donnell just saying the information WAS NOT LEAKED. All the media info came from Sandy Burger and his lawyer. Recently told Kerry campaign.....they told him he better make it public right now!

290 posted on 07/21/2004 7:25:05 PM PDT by windchime (Podesta about Bush: "He's got four years to try to undo all the stuff we've done." (TIME-1/22/01))

Tomorrow's the day......

MEDIA ADVISORY

9-11 Commission to Release Final Report
in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, July 22

July 19, 2004—The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
(also known as the 9-11 Commission) will release its final report at 11:30 a.m. on
Thursday, July 22, in Washington, D.C.

Thomas H. Kean, Chair of the Commission, and Lee H. Hamilton, Vice Chair, will
present the report at a live, televised event at 11:30 a.m. on July 22. Opening remarks by
the Chairs will be followed by a press conference with all ten Commissioners. The report
will be available online on the Commission’s Web site when the presentation begins. The
report will also be available for purchase in bookstores nationwide and from the
Government Printing Office on Thursday.

“For the past 20 months, the Commission has worked to fulfill its mandate, preparing for
the Congress, the President, and the American people an authoritative account of the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and recommendations to help avert future
attacks,” said Kean. “We are honored to present our findings and recommendations to the
American people this week.”

“The terrorist threat to the United States has not disappeared since September 11,” said
Hamilton. “Future attacks are expected. We hope that the President and the Congress
study our recommendations with care and act on them quickly.”

Working press wishing to attend this event must register on the Commission’s Web site,
www.9-11commission.gov. Only those members of the media whose attendance has been
confirmed in writing by the Commission will be granted entry. Information about access
to the event and further press guidelines also may be found on the Commission’s Web
site.

All media requests to interview Commissioners should be directed to Craig Brownstein at
(202) 326-1799 or by email at requests@9-11commission.gov.

Before July 22, press inquiries, not including interview requests, should be directed to
Al Felzenberg, Deputy for Communications, at (202) 401-1725 or (202) 236-4878, or by
email at afelzenberg@9-11commission.gov.

On July 22 and 23, all press inquiries should be directed to (202) 326-1711.
###

I've posted this top a few other threads. Please ignore if you've seen it before ...

I called our local Clear Channel station the night after this story broke and spoke for about 10 minutes describing the procedures used to handle classified information. The following is a basic description of what I said ...

1) A person who wishes to review classified information at a given facility must have his/her clearance on file with the security office that has legal custody of the information.

2) Once they arrive to the facility, they must show their credentials to identify themselves, sign into the facility - maybe issued a badge indicating their clearance and access and escorted to the room where the material will be reviewed.

3) A quick sidebar on program access and document marking. The term "Access" refers to the concept of "Need to Know". The fact you have a clearance that matches the level required to have access to the material does not establish your "need to know". It must be determined by someone like a program manager or security personnel that your job function requires access to certain information. If you are granted access, you may be required to go through another level of investigation. Some levels of access (at least the ones I was exposed to) are known as "Special Need to Know" or SNTK (pronounced Snick) and "Special Access Required" or SAR. Programs with these designations require special prominent markings on each page of a classified document along with the classification level. Believe it or not, after all the markings (top and bottom) there usually is enough room for the content of the page.

4) I should also mention that each paragraph of the document starts with a designation indicating the classification level of that paragraph. This would look like (U), (C), (S), (S/SAR), (S/SNTK), (TS) or (TS/SAR). Every page is marked top and bottom based upon the highest level of any paragraph on that page. ie. it's possible to have an unclassified page in a top secret document. And as you might think, the overall classification of the document is classified at the highest level of any single page.

5) This next point is especially important in light of the current investigation. Every page is marked "Page x of y Pages". For example page 13 of a 32 page document would be clearly marked in the banner section of the page "Page 13 of 32 Pages". This is done for obvious reasons - if any page is missing, it can be accounted for. The page count is also part of the document's registration in the security catalog.

6) Once in the room, the container (probably a safe i.e. a very heavy duty file cabinet with heavy combination locks with different combinations on each drawer) is opened. This process should be logged by security personnel.

7) The documents are taken from the container. All classified documents are stamped (each page) with items such as a control number, date of creation, level of clearance (top and bottom), program name indicating what access is required and eventual dispensation (i.e. when the material is designated to destruction if applicable).

8) If the documents are classified "top secret", each document has a log on the cover sheet. EACH time a person has access to this information, they must sign and date it.

9) The material is not to be removed (ie stuffed in underwear, socks ... etc) without approval of security personnel. If this takes place, the transfer is documented on both ends of the transaction. If the material is top secret or above, it requires at least two cleared people as an escort.

10) If you travel overnight, the material is not to be kept in your hotel/motel room but instead must be taken to an approved facility. Arrangements are usually made in advance. Security people do not like suprise visits. They like to make them but not receive them.

11) No photocopies are to be made or notes copied without the proper security personnel logging this activity and making appropri

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