Posted on 07/19/2004 7:24:23 PM PDT by wagglebee
A sensitive after action report on the foiled Millennium bomb plot, portions of which were allegedly pilfered by former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, sounded the alarm that al Qaida operatives had entered the U.S. and were preparing to strike.
In testimony before the 9/11 Commission in April, Attorney General John Ashcroft detailed the highly classified March 2000 document, saying it contained a set of sweeping recommendations on how to combat the al Qaida threat that were completely ignored by the Clinton White House.
"The NSC's Millennium After Action Review declares that the United States barely missed major terrorist attacks in 1999 -- with luck playing a major role," Ashcroft told the Commission.
"Among the many vulnerabilities in homeland defenses identified, the Justice Department's surveillance and FISA operations were specifically criticized for their glaring weaknesses."
"It is clear from the review," declared Ashcroft, "that actions taken in the Millennium Period should not be the operating model for the U.S. government."
The Millennium plot review warned the Clinton administration "of a substantial al Qaida network and affiliated foreign terrorist presence within the U.S., capable of supporting additional terrorist attacks here," the Bush attorney general said.
"Furthermore, fully seventeen months before the September 11 attacks, the review recommends disrupting the al Qaida network and terrorist presence here using immigration violations, minor criminal infractions, and tougher visa and border controls," he explained.
Ashcroft's comments suggested why a former Clinton national security official might not want the information contained in the Millennium review to ever see the light of day.
"Despite the warnings and the clear vulnerabilities identified by the NSC in 2000," he told the Commission, "no new disruption strategy to attack the al Qaida network within the United States was deployed. It was ignored in the Department's five-year counterterrorism strategy."
Typical of the Clinton administration: break the law rather than just let people realize how damn stupid and incompetent you really are.
Let's all remember to say "Clinton NSA and Kerry adviser Sandy Begrer."
How does Ashcroft know what documents were pilfered? If he knows, the documents must be common knowledge and why would Sandy bother? Scratching head in confusion here.
But I'm with you in wondering why Berger would have pilfered them if there were copies available.
It's not FBI files. But I'm with you on the first part. The Bush WH is risk adverse to the point of paralysis. Why weren't they trashing the dems and Clinton admin over their screwup on national security for years? If they won't fight, they will lose this election.
Classified documents are numbered, so we would know which ones were missing.
As to why Berger would bother? I will join you in the head scratching. It makes no sense.
In another story, it's revealed that Berger stuffed them in his pants to sneak them out.
October 2003.
There are apparently a lot of details yet to surface. This story makes no sense at this level of information.
Having said that, how deep does the crap flow? Nothing would surprise me at this point.
They will say nothng about this for the same reason that they will say nothing about the OKC connections to Iraq.
"In another story, it's revealed that Berger stuffed them in his pants to sneak them out." Oh no! You don't understand. He didn't "steal them" or "sneak them out". He "inadvertently took them". Don't you understand? Clintonistas don't steal. Hillary "inadvertently" took those files and "inadvertently" left them in the secretary's office.
And what is (apparently) missing are the "drafts." Maybe they were even tougher than the final document.
"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 [Berger] said.
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