Sandy Berger Not Front Page News in Some Major Newspapers

cnsnews.com ^ | 7/20/04 | susan jones

[foolscap]

Sandy Berger Not Front Page News in Some Major Newspapers

(CNSNews.com) - President Clinton's National Security Adviser Sandy Berger - who has been advising the Kerry campaign on foreign policy -- confirms he is the target of a criminal investigation for removing copies of classified terrorism documents from a secure reading room at the National Archives.

Some copies were never returned, press reports said. The documents reportedly discuss the Clinton administration's response to various terror threats.

Berger admits he walked out of the reading room with handwritten notes stuck in his pockets. Copies of classified documents were "inadvertently" removed in a leather portfolio. "I deeply regret the sloppiness involved," Berger said in a statement to the Associated Press on Monday.

The documents in question are said to be critical of the Clinton administration.

But Berger said he had no intention of withholding documents from the 9/11 commission. "To the contrary, to my knowledge, every document requested by the commission from the Clinton administration was produced," Berger said in the statement,

"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.

"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 said.

Timing of leak 'suspicious'

David Gergen, a former adviser to President Clinton, told NBC's Today show on Tuesday that the situation is "more innocent than it looks."

He said Berger would never do anything to compromise national security.

In fact, Gergen called Berger "one of the heroes in the war against terrorism." He said Berger - as the millennium approached - led the effort to prevent a terror attack on the Los Angeles airport and other targets in the U.S. Gergen said Berger successfully thwarted the airport attack.

Gergen admits Berger violated Archive rules by leaving the building with notes on classified documents. But, he added, "It's not a serious violation."

Taking copies of classified documents is also forbidden. But, Gergen noted, the originals were never removed, and the 9/11 commission was never denied access to documents.

Gergen said the investigation of Berger started months ago, and he called it "suspicious" and "questionable" that the story was leaked in the same week that the 9/11 commission plans to release its report on the events and intelligence leading up to the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Gergen said the publicity about Berger has the "overtones" of being a distraction from the 9/11 commission's findings. "Let's let more facts come out," he added.

As for Berger's role in advising Sen. Kerry, Gergen said the revelations may force Berger to distance himself from the soon-to-be Democratic nominee.

"I think a lot depends on how it bounces in the press, what his opponents do to it," Gergen said. "So far it's not been given - The Washington Post played it inside the newspaper, did not play it on their front page today."

But, Gergen added, "If this suddenly becomes a front page story - and there's a lot of whoop-dee-do about it - then there will be some pressure on him to distance himself [from the Kerry campaign]."

The Washington Post played the story at the top of page 2. The New York Times played the story at the bottom of Page 16. USA Today was among the newspapers playing it above the fold on the front page.

[Fenris6]

"And Trent Lott has gone girlie-man on this. He was interviewed on Fox this morning, saying "Let's just wait and see, we have to see if this was deliberate, etc."

Good. Trent has a habit of sticking his foot in his mouth at the worst possible moment. Stay out of it Trent. Keep the media cycle focused on Berger-Kerry connection instead of your PR screw-ups.

[Political Junkie Too]

wasn't Fawn Hall hauled in front of a Congressional investigating committee back in the 70's for something similar to this?

That would be in the mid-1980s.

Fawn Hall was Oliver North's secretary. She was shredding documents from his office related to the Reagan Iran-Contra scandal.

-PJ

[jackbill]

Bump for later read and response to Gergen