Guest MikeSC Report post Posted July 20, 2004 AP: Clinton Adviser Probed in Terror Memos 1 hour, 11 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo! By JOHN SOLOMON WASHINGTON - President Clinton (news - web sites)'s national security adviser, Sandy Berger, is the focus of a Justice Department (news - web sites) 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 (news - web sites) 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. There are federal laws strictly governing the handling of classified information, including prohibiting the unauthorized release or removal of such materials. 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 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 and seaports. 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 (news - web sites) 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 (news - web sites). Deutch was about to enter into a plea agreement for a misdemeanor charge of mishandling government secrets when the pardon was granted. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...11_berger_probe Wow. Hard to tell what the hell Berger was thinking here. -=Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Highland 0 Report post Posted July 20, 2004 It's obvious he wasn't thinking at all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jobber of the Week 0 Report post Posted July 20, 2004 What. The. Hell. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vyce 0 Report post Posted July 20, 2004 Why is this thread not at least to a second page, yet? Oh, right - the purposefully ambiguous thread title. This story is ten kinds of shady. Berger has a LOT of explaining to do. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest MD2020 Report post Posted July 20, 2004 Well, at least the major media is covering it. Check out latimes.com Just scroll down. Keep scrolling. No, scroll down more. A little more. All right, it's in the AP section. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jobber of the Week 0 Report post Posted July 20, 2004 Wondered how long before we got to that. *yawn* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest MikeSC Report post Posted July 20, 2004 Well, in a shocker, the Democrats are attacking that anything was leaked --- and not the rather obvious problems that this entails. People with high security clearances, last time I checked, don't often tend to make such asinine mistakes. -=Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vyce 0 Report post Posted July 20, 2004 Wondered how long before we got to that. *yawn* As if Democrats and liberals right now aren't circling the wagons like motherfuckers. FORTUNATELY, there was a discussion of this on CNN today. Well, in a shocker, the Democrats are attacking that anything was leaked --- and not the rather obvious problems that this entails. People with high security clearances, last time I checked, don't often tend to make such asinine mistakes. I want very much to learn, as generally as they're able to divulge (due to the sensitive nature of the materials), what the content of the documents he took was. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jobber of the Week 0 Report post Posted July 20, 2004 As if Democrats and liberals right now aren't circling the wagons like motherfuckers. Huh? FORTUNATELY, there was a discussion of this on CNN today. It's on the front page of CNN.com, too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teke184 0 Report post Posted July 20, 2004 I was listening to a talk-radio show on the way home and there was a call-in section devoted to the best explanation behind why Berger did what he did. My personal favorite mentioned theory was that the "missing" FBI files that ended up in Hillary Clinton's possession were used to blackmail Berger into doing it. The purpose was for him to get caught and sink Kerry's campaign, setting Hillary up for a run in 2008. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted July 21, 2004 Well, at least the major media is covering it. Check out latimes.com Well the NY Times had it in a very special part of its A-20 page... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest MD2020 Report post Posted July 21, 2004 Well, at least the major media is covering it. Check out latimes.com Well the NY Times had it in a very special part of its A-20 page... Another reason why I'm getting increasingly disgusted by major media. It's not even a liberal/conservative bias thing any more; I think they're just incompetent at best, dishonest at worst. I'm getting more and more of my info from blogs nowadays. I encourage everyone to read more blogs--right wing, left wing, moderate, etc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
