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Clinton Adviser Probed Over Terror Memos
By John Solomon, Associated Press. EFL. Sandy Berger, former President Clinton's national security adviser, is under criminal investigation by the Justice Department after highly classified terrorism documents disappeared while he was reviewing what should be turned over to the Sept. 11 commission. Berger's home and office were searched earlier this year by FBI agents armed with warrants after the former Clinton adviser voluntarily returned some sensitive documents to the National Archives and admitted he also removed handwritten notes he had made while reviewing the sensitive documents. . . . Berger and his lawyer said Monday night he knowingly removed the handwritten notes by placing them in his jacket and pants, and also inadvertently took copies of actual classified documents in a leather portfolio. . . . 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. Clinton asked Berger last year to review and select the administration documents that would be turned over to the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The FBI searches of Berger's home and office occurred after National Archives employees told agents they believed they witnessed Berger place documents in his clothing while reviewing 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. "I have this real bad habit of stuffing things in my trousers without thinking." "When I was informed by the Archives that "Quick! Cover his you-know-what." Appearing on NBC's "Today" show, Gergen said, "I have known Sandy Berger for a long time. He would never do anything to compromise the security of And now, for the counterstroke: Gergen said he thought that "it is suspicious" that word of the investigation of Berger would emerge just as the Sept. 11 commission is about to release its report, since "this investigation started months ago." . . . "It's a vast right-wing conspiracy, I tells ya!" A bunch of comments on this one: 1. It's possible, when reviewing a pile of papers, to be bone-headed and put something in the wrong file jacket, or gather up something inadvertently when loading your briefcase. Stuffing things in your trousers is, however, not a bone-headed mistake. 2. This is the same Sandy Berger who told Clinton not to accept Sudan's offer to turn over Osama bin Laden to us back in 1996. The Vodkapundit reflects on this: What bothers me — and what should bother you — is that the man who was too concerned with the law to get Osama when he had the chance, was rather cavalier about the law when it came to shoving classified items down his 46-inch waistband. Sandy Berger covered his ass, quite literally, with the papers which, just might, show how he inadvertently helped Osama bin Laden murder the asses of 3,000 of Berger's fellow Americans. 3. If Condi Rice or Donald Rumsfeld had bone-headedly mishandled classified 9/11 commission documents, would the mainstream press perhaps be a little harsher on them than it is (so far) being on Sandy Berger? Posted by: Mike 2004-07-20 |
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