Posted on 12/20/2006 2:12:49 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
Former national security adviser Sandy Berger removed classified documents from the National Archives in 2003 and hid them under a construction trailer, the Archives inspector general reported Wednesday. The report was issued more than a year after Berger pleaded guilty and received a criminal sentence for removal of the documents.
Inspector General Paul Brachfeld reported that when Berger was confronted by Archives officials about the missing documents, he said it was possible he threw them in his office trash.
The report said that when Archives employees first suspected that Berger _ who had been President Clinton's national security adviser _ was removing classified documents from the Archives in the fall of they failed to notify any law enforcement agency.
Berger, who pleaded guilty to unlawfully removing and retaining classified documents, was fined $50,000, ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and was barred from access to classified material for three years.
The report said that when Berger was reviewing the classified documents in the Archives building a few blocks from the Capitol, employees saw him bending down and fiddling with something white, which could have been paper, around his ankle.
However, Archives employees did not feel at the time there was enough information to confront someone of Berger's stature, the report said.
Brachfeld reported that on one visit, Berger took a break to go outside without an escort.
"In total, during this visit, he removed four documents ... .
"Mr. Berger said he placed the documents under a trailer in an accessible construction area outside Archives 1 (the main Archives building)."
Berger acknowledged that he later retrieved the documents from the construction area and returned with them to his office.
Berger, with the authorization of former President Clinton, was reviewing National Security Council documents on Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, Sudan, and related presidential correspondence. The review was to facilitate Berger's impending testimony before the House and Senate intelligence committees.
There was not one honest ethical person in the Clintoon mafia.
This was no "I forgot I had them excuse."
Nice of the judge, wasn't it?
Always in the back of my mind is, WHYTHEHELL DID THE ATTORNEY GENERAL LET THIS POS SKATE? Berger must know enough, to hang someone else. Politics, as usual!
If a military guy did the things Berger did, he would be doing time in Leavenworth.
Bet ya $100 dollars that this was one of the documents he destroyed.
"...and was barred from access to classified material for three years."
Not only is he NOT going to jail for the rest of his life for taking documents that have the same classification as our nuclear secrets (probably to modify them to protect Clinton's legacy), he'll also be able to access classified documents after 3 years?
Stick a fork in America.
Other than Zell Miller there is not one single honorable democrat. Not one!
And really, after the documents had been down there, who'd want 'em back? So, he did us all a favor, you see.
Betcha if I did something like that, as a junior enlisted guy, I'd be in far higher levels of trouble so fast it'd make my head swim.
When I was a child, once I shoplifted a small item from a store, and took it out. But I needed to buy something so I'd have a bag and a receipt in case my parents asked about it, so I hid the item nearby and went back into the store.
When I came out a little later, the item was gone.
The next day when I went into the store, the manager called me over, told me he knew I was stealing stuff, and if I ever showed up again he'd call the police.
I was 10 years old at the time, and apparently my 10-year-old-self was taught a better lesson than Sandy Berger.
You will only hear about this on Rush, Sean, and Brit Hume's "Grapevine".
The AP is conveniently releasing this before Xmas weekend.
Alger Hiss, Aldrich Ames, Robert Hansen, Sandy Berger.
TRAITORS.
Berger is a common thief. He did this intentionally. He should never get a security clearance again. I don't care who he is.
FWIW, I'm more worried about what he put back.
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