Posted on 07/22/2004 1:34:39 PM PDT by tang-soo
bttt
bttt
Including their removal, loss and destruction? Bill Clinton has the authority to order that?
No. By statute, the President can grant or deny access to classified materials (and 5 other categories of materials) for 12 years.
Thanks for the clarification, angkor. There could be some thorny legal issues here that may at least partly explain the apparent stand-off between Berger and the DOJ.
As I've alluded to before, I am very impressed by your summary. One item that I would like you to add, when you get a chance to update it:
There are many, many people who have had "Confidential" or "Secret" clearances, or even marginal "Top Secret" access. Those people are likely to under a delusion that this "Code Word" - Highest sensitivity - material is handled in a similar manner. Nothing could be further from the truth.
This stuff is handled with far more care than the lower clearance material, and even the archivists (or investigators of criminal behavior with respect to it) are under severe restrictions when they have to handle it in any way because they do not have the clearances and "need-to-know" to be allowed to view it.
There is no way - I mean NO WAY - for this material to be inadvertently carried off and subsequently lost or disposed of.
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I am dead certain that the Demodogs leaked this.
Berger was expected to be Sec.State or some other top level appointment. Can you imagine the clamor if this story was broken a week or so after Kerry "pre-announces" his "team" - or in another way flags what his Cabinet would be? We had a very good idea of who was in Bush's Cabinet well before the election. They NYSlimes even said "there's a chance this will hurt Berger's chances to be Sec.State", so they knew Berger was in line. Really, what type of damage would having this come out a mere 2-4 weeks before Nov.2 cause? Berger apparently saw fit to hide this story from Kerry!
Demodogs leaked this... pure and simple.
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I sure wish somebody with a little more recent experience with super-high level security procedures would verify what tang-soo has posted here.
His experience is about 10 years old, and mine is even older.
Anybody verifying, updating, and adding to his post would be very appreciated.
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bump
bttt
Thanks for this informative post!
A most enlightening post. Michael Savage made mention of the "Code Word Access" and how secrete that level is. This Berger thing simply does not pass the smell test in any shape or form...Berger committed a crime and I suspect he did not do this for himself – shades of Ron Brown.
I know that even "honest mistakes" where procedures were improperly followed, but which resulted in no actual compromise of the data results in severe punishment for people in the military: Reduction of rank, loss of multiple months pay, and confinement to quarters - in addition to possible revokation of security clearances.
That's just for mishandling or misrecording. Anything even remotely like what is described would result in jail-time.
Generally Presidents and certain other positions like CIA Directors retain their clearances after leaving office - assuming a sort of "emeritus" status.
O.K. apparently there is a mechanism that makes it look like they still have clearances. See the Order likned above.
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