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Ashcroft: Berger 9/11 Docs Reveal Clinton Security Lapse
NewsMax ^ | 7/19/04 | Carl Limbacher

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."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 911; ashcroft; berger; captainunderpants; doj; sandyberger; trousergate
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1 posted on 07/19/2004 7:24:24 PM PDT by wagglebee
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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.

Typical of the Clinton administration: break the law rather than just let people realize how damn stupid and incompetent you really are.

2 posted on 07/19/2004 7:26:24 PM PDT by wagglebee
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To: wagglebee
Oh, man. This is bad. And yet strangely satisfying.

Let's all remember to say "Clinton NSA and Kerry adviser Sandy Begrer."

3 posted on 07/19/2004 7:26:51 PM PDT by ScottFromSpokane (Re-elect President Bush: http://spokanegop.org/bush.html)
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To: wagglebee
Typical of the Bush Administration to do NOTHING about it.
Then there are the stolen FBI files, too.
4 posted on 07/19/2004 7:29:56 PM PDT by Diogenesis ("Then I say unto you, send men to summon ... worms. And let us go to Fallujah to collect heads.")
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To: ScottFromSpokane

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.


5 posted on 07/19/2004 7:30:21 PM PDT by listenhillary ($0.273972603 a day = $100 a year to FR., Listenhillary, MD.)
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To: listenhillary
Ashcroft said this in April. I don't think he necessarily knew the documents were pilfered. In fact, maybe Berger pilfered them in response to Ashcroft's statements.

But I'm with you in wondering why Berger would have pilfered them if there were copies available.

6 posted on 07/19/2004 7:32:57 PM PDT by what's up
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To: Diogenesis

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.


7 posted on 07/19/2004 7:34:00 PM PDT by plain talk
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: listenhillary

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.


9 posted on 07/19/2004 7:34:58 PM PDT by ex 98C MI Dude (Proud Member of the Reagan Republicans)
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To: ex 98C MI Dude
Didn't it say they were drafts, could be something in them that got cut out of the final version.
10 posted on 07/19/2004 7:49:01 PM PDT by 1066AD
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To: ex 98C MI Dude
It makes sense if he's playing a game of CYA. He really doesn't want his political career to end....
11 posted on 07/19/2004 7:49:16 PM PDT by hoosiermama (prayers for all)
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To: what's up
The Newsday article doesn't mention when this "pilfering" took place, but I'm thinking this had to have happened in 2003. Here's a relevant date noted in the article

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.

Is it safe to assume that "January" in this case is 2004 ?
12 posted on 07/19/2004 7:49:38 PM PDT by stylin19a (Only the mediocre are always at their best)
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To: wagglebee

In another story, it's revealed that Berger stuffed them in his pants to sneak them out.


13 posted on 07/19/2004 7:51:44 PM PDT by MizSterious (First, the journalists, THEN the lawyers.)
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To: stylin19a
The Newsday article doesn't mention when this "pilfering" took place ...

October 2003.

14 posted on 07/19/2004 7:54:58 PM PDT by BluH2o
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To: wagglebee

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.


15 posted on 07/19/2004 7:57:16 PM PDT by ovrtaxt (Palm Beach voters: It's not the heat, it's the stupidity.)
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To: plain talk; Diogenesis

They will say nothng about this for the same reason that they will say nothing about the OKC connections to Iraq.


16 posted on 07/19/2004 7:59:17 PM PDT by ovrtaxt (Palm Beach voters: It's not the heat, it's the stupidity.)
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To: MizSterious

"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.


17 posted on 07/19/2004 8:00:53 PM PDT by Winfield
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To: Shermy
Some insight on what Berger believed sufficiently important to stuff in his pants.
18 posted on 07/19/2004 8:01:16 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: Ignorance On Parade)
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To: okie01

And what is (apparently) missing are the "drafts." Maybe they were even tougher than the final document.


19 posted on 07/19/2004 8:03:53 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: wagglebee
This from Drudge:

"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.

20 posted on 07/19/2004 8:03:55 PM PDT by GVnana (Tagline? I don't need no stinkin' tagline!)
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