Isn't this just PERFECT?!

Clinton Adviser Probed in Terror Memos

WASHINGTON - President Clinton'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.

How convenient. "Oops! I forgot about them. Sorry.

Berger's home and office were searched earlier this year by FBI 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.

I wonder whether those reports might have been critical of President Clinton? Probably just a coincidence, right?

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.

How does this happen? An inability to read? Those big letters "TOP SECRET -- DO NOT REMOVE" on the cover sheet to hard to decipher?

"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.

And we should take your word for it, right? Problem is, it is more convenient obfuscation and odd occurrences from a member of perhaps the most corrupt Presidential administration in my lifetime. Given that I lived through the Nixon and part of the Johnson years, THAT takes some doing.

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.

Any word on why he might have been PUTTING THE DOCUMENTS IN HIS CLOTHING IN THE FIRST PLACE? I mean, what the heck -- was his briefcase too full?

And why was he reviewing the documents without an adminstration handler? As a lawyer, I have been to plenty of document reviews for civil discovery. The other side might have twenty boxes, I go through them, then decide what I might want to have copied, and tag those documents.

I am NEVER left alone with the documents. And I don't want to be. I don't want to catch the blame if some documents come up missing.

So, if I can think of this simple security measure for civil discovery, why can't our nation's leaders think of it in regards to NATIONAL SECURITY DOCUMENTS?

"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.

I mean, they just fell right off the desk and into my inner suit jacket pocket. I really don't understand HOW that could have happened!

"When I was informed by the Archives that there were documents missing, I immediately returned everything I had except for a few document that I apparently had accidentally discarded," he said.

Can somebody tell me how he knows how many documents we are talking about? Or how he knows he "accidentally discarded" those documents?

My guess is that he didn't discard the documents, "accidentally" or otherwise. He destroyed them. He destroyed documents that might have made Clinton (or him) look even more like dismal failures in the war on terrorism.

Lanny Breuer, one of Berger's attorneys, said his client has offered to cooperate fully with the investigation but has not been interviewed by the FBI or prosecutors. Berger has been told he is the subject of the investigation, Breuer said.

I should darn well hope so. Our national security should not be sacrificed for political appearances.

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 that no decision has been made on whether Berger should face criminal charges.

I hope that he is. Maybe putting a few people in jail will drive home the idea that national security is serious business.

That being said, it is unlikely he will face charges for any serious criminal charges. He is a high profile suspect with lots of resources. US Attorneys may be unwilling to expend resources on a risky, lengthy prosecution.

Then again, they went after Martha Stewart, so who knows? Likely no decision will be made until after the election.

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.

Oh that's swell. So he not only removed documents potentially critical of the Clinton administration's handling of terrorism threats, he removed documents that might just have blueprints of American vulnerabilities to future terror attacks.

And now he can't find them.

This would be a bigger story were it, say, Republican Donald Rumsfeld rather than Democrat Sandy Berger.

Truly disgusting.

Steve
- posted by MrSpkr @ 20:33