Things that make you go hmmm....
Posted on 07/21/2004 8:44:10 PM PDT by kristinn
snip
One former government official who reviewed the documents said they were marked "code-word secret" because they contained intercepts from the National Security Agency about possible terrorist threats in Jordan.
Another source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said National Archives staff watched Berger through a glass door as he appeared to put pieces of paper in his jacket pocket.
snip
Last fall, Berger reviewed thousands of Clinton administration documents at the National Archives that were being sought by the Sept. 11 panel. Two law enforcement sources said archives officials had suspected Berger removed documents during an early visit, and made sure they secretly coded and copied records for the next time he came.
snip
Berger had previously aroused suspicions, one source said, because several reports he had looked at were missing. The staff called Bruce Lindsey, former deputy counsel to President Bill Clinton who was a Clinton liaison to the archives, to offer a chance to clear up the issue and retrieve the records, the source said. Lindsey could not be reached for comment.
The source said the records Berger returned through Lindsey were not the same records the staff had suspected were missing, which suggested that more records were missing than the staff had realized. "That's when they started coding the documents," the source said.
When Berger returned for his next visit, the staff watched him as he appeared to put papers in his pocket, the source said. An archives spokeswoman declined to comment.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
OMG, he was on Hardball tonight and he was PATHETIC; even Matthews was sneering at him! I could have pounded him into the ground with one or two sentences.
Why no one will ask those idiots the one question that will shut them up is beyond me: "If it was a mistake, why did he do it FIVE SEPARATE TIMES?"
He was there for Clinton, going through the documents that were available for the commission.
And the point is how would they KNOW what to ask for unless somebody told them?
Could Berger have taken reports and then just never mentioned it to the committee?
No he couldn't. I'm sure when Ashcroft says "NOT" he means "NOT".
From an earlier thread ("Whitewashgate"):
Drafts of the sensitive NSC "Millennium After Action Review" on the Clinton administration's handling of al-Qaida terror threats during the December 1999 millennium celebration are reported to be among the documents still missing from classified materials Berger removed from a secure reading room.
Ashcroft said the review – which he was not shown prior to 9-11 – recommends, 17 months before the attacks, "disrupting the al-Qaida network and terrorist presence here using immigration violations, minor criminal infractions and tougher visa and border controls."
Ashcroft told the commission, "It is clear from the review that actions taken in the Millennium Period should not be the operating model for the U.S. government."
The March 2000 review, Ashcroft told the panel, warns 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."
Ashcroft said the "highly-classified" review "was not among the 30 items upon which my predecessor [Janet Reno] briefed me during the transition. It was not advocated as a disruption strategy to me during the [2001] summer threat period by the NSC staff which wrote the review more than a year earlier."
I'm off to bed. Got work to do tomorrow morning.
Good catch!
A really thorough investigation! /sarcasm
His exact words:
Despite the warnings and the clear vulnerabilities identified by the NSC in 2000, no new disruption strategy to attack the al Qaeda network within the United States was deployed. It was ignored in the Department's five-year counterterrorism strategy.
I did not see the highly-classified review before September 11. It was not among the 30 items upon which my predecessor briefed me during the transition. It was not advocated as a disruption strategy to me during the summer threat period by the NSC staff which wrote the review more than a year earlier.
I certainly cannot say why the blueprint for security was not followed in 2000. I do know from my personal experience that those who take the kind of tough measures called for in the plan will feel the heat. I've been there; I've done that. So the sense of urgency simply may not have overcome concern about the outcry and criticism which follows such tough tactics.
bttt
bttt
Thanks for the post. BTT
Such a great resembalance.
****
Bill Clinton had difficulty with what the definition of "IS" is. His Natl Security Advisor has a problem with what the definition of "inadvertent" is. Sandy "Berglar" is a thief AND a LIAR !!
The source said the records Berger returned through Lindsey were not the same records the staff had suspected were missing, which suggested that more records were missing than the staff had realized. "That's when they started coding the documents," the source said.
When Berger returned for his next visit, the staff watched him as he appeared to put papers in his pocket, the source said. An archives spokeswoman declined to comment.
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