Bubba Clinton has formal statutory authority over the papers.
Lindsey - as Clinton's designated attorney in this matter - would have been the point man in obtaining the necessary waivers for Berger to examine the docs.
There was a formal procedure undertaken to allow Berger into the Archives, and it seems likely that Lindsey was the legal interface (between the Archives and Berger) in executing the paperwork, defining the scope of the review, the dates and times of review, etc.
I don't see any issue with Archives calling Lindsey first, he would have been the legal pointman from the Archive's point-of-view.
Thanks...that clears that issue up for me.
This seems to have been handled rather well by the Archivist. You have to expect some white glove treatement for the former head of national security. When it became obvious that Berger had taken documents, that called his attorney and advised him of the problem.
But when Berger returned documents that weren't known to be missing, bells started ringing. They set up a sting, and what we have now is the result. He could have gotten away with the first offense, but something was so important that he kept at it, even after getting caught.