AP: Clinton Adviser Probed in Terror Memos [Sandy Berger is the focus of a criminal investigation]

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[Sub-Driver]

AP: Clinton Adviser Probed in Terror Memos

3 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 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.

Berger's home and office were searched earlier this year by FBI (news - web sites) 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.

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.

"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.

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.

[Blood of Tyrants]

The thing about it is he is STILL using the same MO that the clinton's and their KoolAid drinkers have used for over 12 years now. He was "sloppy" and "inadvertantly" removed them. General incompetence, the hallmark and excuse of the Decade of the Toon.

[OldFriend]

Somehow the AP doesn't strike me as part of the vast right wing conspiracy. They have been moving stories on their wire that are NOT helpful to the Kerry camp.

Something wrong here, as ole henry lee would say.

[Dolphy]

Boy, are you naive. These morons spent $100 million going to see "Farenheit 911"!

Don't underestimate the total stupidity of the American people!

Once you believe that the majority of Americans are this dim, you become a Democrat.

[windchime]

Kelly Wright, Fox, reported a few minutes ago and included..."and even in his socks".

[combat_boots]

Fax news rooms.....for free...........

1.  Click HERE.  This will open the "fax for free" window.

 

2.  Enter the fax number in the window as follows (it must read exactly like this): +1-202-225-5241

 

3.  Don't forget to include your email address.  Otherwise, it won't send.

[tobyhill]

Fox news just reported, Berger also put documents in his socks! "Inadvertently" of course. This is way bigger than even the media can make it. They are calling Berger an "informal" adviser to Kerry? I thought one would be an adviser or not? I didn't know there is a new definition of adviser.

[Wolfstar]

Have the mediots running this story, blame GW.

In answer, did you happen to catch Katie Couric's "interview" of David Gergen this morning? Gergen was on to defend Berger. In his most oily manner, Gergen didn't directly blame GWB. But he did say the leak now, just before the Dem convention, was suspicious. When Katie breathlessly asked if Gergen thought it would hurt Kerry, Oily David said the leak had political overtones.

Translation: As far as the so-called mainstream media is concerned, case closed.

[Howlin]

Sandy Berger Stuffed Documents In His SOCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174819/posts


I bet David Gergen feels like a fool!

[Ann Archy]

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.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.

KNOWINGLY...KNOWINGLY!! Don't let the Rat Spinners tell you differently!! Berger did this KNOWINGLY!

What more that that papragraph needs to be said?

[FourtySeven]

1. This should be hit and hit hard by the Bush team. Press the connections to Kerry. At LEAST nail the Clintons to the WALL, so that in 2008, Hldebeast will have ZERO chance of ever getting her pasty white, fat@$$ in the White House!

2. The appauling nature and astounding incompetence shown here should, by ITSELF, be enough for EVERYONE to vote anti DEMOCRAT in November. Heck, LITERALLY, writing in Mickey Mouse would be better for this country than the DONKEY PARTY.

If this doesn't demonstrate, in a nutshell, how utterly, rediculously, ignorant and incompetent Democrats are, AS A RULE, to EVERY VOTER, then I have very little hope left for this country. I can't express in any post, long or short, how completely disgusted I am.

If anything comes out of this, I hope, AT LEAST, a vigorous, merciless prosecution of Berger to the extent that when he gets out of jail, we'll have colonies on Mars!

[tobyhill]

New Bush Campaign Commercial(not real yet)

While Kerry is out promoting his new found "family value, his advisers are hard at work. At least one is so committed to his former job he feels compelled to take Top Secret documents home with him. His brief case was so full he even stuffed them in his stock? If this is Kerry's definition of National Security then maybe his next vote will be to allow Bin Laden Amnesty?

I know everyone can come up with better!

[Wolfstar]

Katie asked one tough question...

What was that, Dane? I watched the whole "squinterview" and am still waiting for them to get up off the feather pillows. I mean, it was all wink-wink, nod-nod that this is no big deal, and Sandy's this upstanding guy, and the leak is politically motivated, yada, yada, yada. Oh, and by the way, didja notice how Oily David slipped in the fact that the Washington Post didn't put it on page 1, so it surely mustn't be a big deal.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks! It is obvious that the Clintoons had a great file on Gergen and some photos, he doesn't want distributed.

This was posted on another thread by angkor. Berger is up to his fat clymer on this one!

"As a former (repeat) White House employee, Gergen and Berger both would be familiar with "Executive Order 12958, As Amended, Classified National Security Information"

So Gergen in particular would know that what he's saying above is simply not true.

Presumably Berger would have been briefed by the National Archives on his access rights and responsibilities, and would have signed some kind of authorization document.

PART 4--SAFEGUARDING

Sec. 4.1. General Restrictions on Access. (a) A person may have access to classified information provided that:

(1) a favorable determination of eligibility for access has been made by an agency head or the agency heads designee;

(2) the person has signed an approved nondisclosure agreement; and

(3) the person has a need-to-know the information.

(b) Every person who has met the standards for access to classified information in paragraph (a) of this section shall receive contemporaneous training on the proper safeguarding of classified information and on the criminal, civil, and administrative sanctions that may be imposed on an individual who fails to protect classified information from unauthorized disclosure.

[snip]

(d) Classified information may not be removed from official premises without proper authorization.

Sec. 4.4. Access by Historical Researchers and Certain Former Government Personnel. (a) The requirement in section 4.1(a)(3) of this order that access to classified information may be granted only to individuals who have a need-to-know the information may be waived for persons who:

(1) are engaged in historical research projects;

(2) previously have occupied policy-making positions to which they were appointed by the President under section 105(a)(2)(A) of title 3, United States Code, or the Vice President under 106(a)(1)(A) of title 3, United States Code;

[roses of sharon]

It's not a matter of "belief", but proof that the public is ignorant, uninformed, fearful, guilty, emotional, lack common sense, soft, weak, drama-queens, and want to "make it all go away".

The elites in NY, Hollywood, education, medicine, judiciary, and churches, shape our culture and elect our leaders, on all levels.

The Kerry/UN/Soros ticket knows this, and their PR firms that control ALL but radio, will surely have victory, unless we are ready to fight as hard as our soldiers oversears.

[Eroteme]

I think the "backup copy" angle is spin. From everything I've read, it sounds like the relevant documents are multiple DRAFTS of the eventual memo.

I agree. The damning documents that needed to be removed show the deliberate steps taken to change/fabricate "facts" and arrive at the final fiction.

There may well be a backup for that final document--but not for the preliminary notes and drafts that went into creating it. Without backups for those, all we have is copies of the polished lie, not the succession of smoking guns that blueprint the lie. And that's what Berger was after.

[Wolfstar]

It'll take decades to clean up the mess that the Xlinton administration left behind.

Not if Kerry's elected, it won't. Kerry's crowd will destroy evidence the Clinton crowd didn't get to. Kerry's own horrible Leftist actions will obscure Clinton's negligence of our foreign policy. In comparison, Clinton will wind up smelling like a rose (well, almost).

[Fishtalk]

The first article from AP did not indicate where they got their information, and if it had been from the Bush Administration they would not have left that bit of information out.

Obviously this story is just breaking and the strange stuff we know is puzzling. Thus we must speculate.

Speculation is, ahem, right up my alley.

Okay, I don't think the Bush administration leaked this info. Ashcroft is too damn ethical and hey, if you're going to go leaking then why would they wait till now?

Now let me state that it could have been a REPUBLICAN what leaked the info because....tada...here's the strange timing as I see it:

I think someone on that 9/11 commission leaked the info. And they leaked it now because I think that yesterday someone in the Bush admin gave the commission a courtesy call about the possibility of missing documents.

You must ask why the justice people didn't tell the commission this earlier, if speculation is true. Which causes me to speculate again.

I think the justice dept was still wrangling with how to handle the Berger thing. Maybe they thought the situation would be solved by now and since it hasn't, the decision was made to tell the 9/11 commission BEFORE they published their final report.

On the surface my scenario assumes ethical people doing common sense things. The Justice Dept. had an individual under investigation and kept the details under wraps, which they ethically should do.

The 9/11 commission was chugging along per normal but the justice dept. felt compelled to notify them about the investigation lest they published what will later be an incomplete (if Berger's documents stolen are not recovered for the record) summary of the attacks.

But my instinct tells me the Bush admin, all of them, excrutiatingly do things the right way because @)it's the right thing to do and b)they attack them viciously with made up atrocities, imagine if they really were dishonest.

I'm not a pollyanna and do not attribute complete nobility to Dubya just because he's my guy. I figure if I was walking through the flames like Bush it's what I'd do. It is possible and for now and if nothing else, it's still a pleasant thought that our executive branch behaves properly. So far they've given me no reason to think not.

So the 9/11 commission gets this info and one of THEM leaked the info. It could have been a Republican, hell it was PROBABLY a Republican. And maybe the admin knew it would be leaked but they followed a normal and common sense process.

I've got some theories about the Lindsay thing and the copies but I must go and gather my wool for a bit and I've bored you enough.

[votelife]

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[windchime]

"As for Soros, I usually do not read the stories about him. Maybe I should start."

I think you should.  Here is a good place to start:

George Soros and America's Coming Election Crisis   Richard Poe  FreeRepublic  7-16-04

Part 1: Velvet Revolution, USA

Part 2: The Democrats' Digital Brownshirts 

Part 3: The Lies of George Soros 

[kabar]

That's right, let's focus on the leaker and not Berger's theft. Straight from the Dem playbook.