Congress May Launch Sandy Berger Probe

NewsMax ^ | 4/10/05 | Carl Limbacher

[wagglebee]

Congress is considering launching its own investigation into the theft of top secret terrorism documents by former Clinton national security advisor Sandy Berger, according to an influential House Republican.

"Several committees in Congress are interested in looking into the Berger issue," Peter King told WWRL Radio hosts Steve Malzberg and Karen Hunter on Thursday.

The senior New York Republican declined to identify the specific committees, but said any probe would come before Berger was formally sentenced in July.

Questions continue to swirl about the five copies of a Millennium bomb plot after-action report stolen by Berger - focusing on why he cut three of those copies "into small pieces."

Berger defenders insist that documents he took contained no original notes in the margins.

"Those documents, emphatically, without doubt - I reviewed them myself - don't have notations on them," prosecutor Noel Hillman told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

But Hillman offered no explanation why Berger shredded three copies and not all five, returning the remaining two to the National Archives.

When news of Berger's theft broke last July, the Justice Department took a much tougher line - with Deputy Attorney General James Comey suggesting that it made no difference whether the documents Berger had stolen were originals.

"It is against the law for anyone to intentionally mishandle classified information, either by taking it to give to somebody else, or by mishandling in a way that is outside the regulations of government information," Comey told reporters at the time.

"All felonies in the federal system bring with them the promise of jail time," he added. Asked how Berger should be held accountable if the documents he destroyed contained any original material, Rep. King told Malzberg, "He should go to jail."

[wagglebee]

"All felonies in the federal system bring with them the promise of jail time," he added. Asked how Berger should be held accountable if the documents he destroyed contained any original material, Rep. King told Malzberg, "He should go to jail."

Damn right he should!

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I'd rather see the title: Congress May Launch Sandy Berger Probe Into Deep Space

[Boundless]

Don't git yer hopes up.

This might just be a gambit to take the mostly fake heat
off Delay.

[Libertina]

They "MAY"? Sigh, I guess it's better than nothing.

[dc-zoo]

I agree that Berger (like Jackson) is "getting off" much too easy. Its time to pay the piper.

[newzjunkey]

Figures it's NewsMax thus it means nothing. Dang. Congress SHOULD DEFINITELY launch a probe into Sandy Burgler's actions.

[mewzilla]

...returning the remaining two to the National Archives.

How do they know he returned the originals...?

[Tacis]

I assume that the Justice Department charge against Berger was conducted by Clintonistas that W refused to purge. With dem criminality, always assume that some of what is eventually seen is a diversion; an attempt to conceal a major crime by leaving evidence of a much lesser crime.

Berger was clearly destroying/hiding evidence of some corruption of Willie's. With Congressional resources and honest Republican resolve, the remove where Berger stole these documents should be searched, file by file, page by page. If Berger got caught because he stole and destroyed worthless documents, it must be because he did something with much more valuable documents. Remember, he always ran the risk of being caught in the act so he couldn't risk stealing the documents he really wanted to lose. If he didn't steal or destroy them, he propably hid them. In a semi-secure library/office, where would a slippery, devious guy hide one to several pages so they'd never be found? I don't know, but the honest Republican Congressshould find out.

[Publius6961]

"Those documents, emphatically, without doubt - I reviewed them myself - don't have notations on them," prosecutor Noel Hillman told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

I would add this sh*****d to the list to be investigated. Noel Hillman has no way of knowing which copies the crook stole and destroyed, so he is in no position to say that.
And he can't even speculate why the Burglar would steal three unmarked "copies", destroy them and risk humiliation and jail for no reason whatsoever.

Let's also talk about security clearance. Why should it be merely "suspended" instead of permanently revoked? This criminal has demonstrated as clearly as necessary that he is a security risk. Why would the government grant a probable felon any kind of a security clearance?

When the First Rapist was president, I was absolutely convinced that blackmail and extortion were being applied by the executive. Whatever material was being used then, I suspect has been reactivated today.
That is the only reasonable explanation as to why this criminal (Sandy Burglar) is not already behind bars.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Congress is considering launching its own investigation into the theft of top secret terrorism documents by former Clinton national security advisor Sandy Berger, according to an influential House Republican.

"Considering"....isn't that what Congressional Republicans do best?

[river rat]

""All felonies in the federal system bring with them the promise of jail time,"......

A "promise" as valuable as most of any politician's "promise"..

Rest assured, our congress will spend far more time improving their pensions, planning foreign junkets, whoring around and covering their asses --- than on applying THEIR laws against their own...

A POX on all their asses..

Semper Fi

[gaspar]

Can't you just see an investigation starring Snowe, Collins, McCain, Specter, Hagel and Graham?

[Brian Allen]

<< Don't git yer hopes up.

This might just be a gambit to take the mostly fake heat
off Delay. >>

"Mostly fake?"

You [And I] wish.

Mr Delay, like every other of the rotten bastards who went to Washington to do Good -- has instead stayed there to do well!

[tang-soo]

This is a vanity article I posted last summer when this story first broke. I make the point through personal experince with classified data, that Berger's claims of an 'honest' mistake is an absolute lie.

As with the Clintonistas' Modus Operandi in the past, they count on the media not asking the difficult questions. Also, they count on those in the public with no personal experience or knowledge to know any difference when they lie. My goal with this article is to pose the difficult questions and to inform those without personal knowledge of how classified data is handled how the circumstances posed by Berger and his defenders is a lie.

I called our local Clear Channel station the night after this story broke and spoke for about 10 minutes describing the procedures used to handle classified information. The following is a basic description of what I said ...

1) A person who wishes to review classified information at a given facility must have his/her clearance on file with the security office that has legal custody of the information.

2) Once they arrive to the facility, they must show their credentials to identify themselves, sign into the facility - maybe issued a badge indicating their clearance and access and escorted to the room where the material will be reviewed.

3) A quick sidebar on program access and document marking. The term "Access" refers to the concept of "Need to Know". The fact you have a clearance that matches the level required to have access to the material does not establish your "need to know". It must be determined by someone like a program manager or security personnel that your job function requires access to certain information. If you are granted access, you may be required to go through another level of investigation. Some levels of access (at least the ones I was exposed to) are known as "Special Need to Know" or SNTK (pronounced Snick) and "Special Access Required" or SAR. Programs with these designations require special prominent markings on each page of a classified document along with the classification level. Believe it or not, after all the markings (top and bottom) there usually is enough room for the content of the page.

4) I should also mention that each paragraph of the document starts with a designation indicating the classification level of that paragraph. This would look like (U), (C), (S), (S/SAR), (S/SNTK), (TS) or (TS/SAR). Every page is marked top and bottom based upon the highest level of any paragraph on that page. ie. it's possible to have an unclassified page in a top secret document. And as you might think, the overall classification of the document is classified at the highest level of any single page.

5) This next point is especially important in light of the current investigation. Every page is marked "Page x of y Pages". For example page 13 of a 32 page document would be clearly marked in the banner section of the page "Page 13 of 32 Pages". This is done for obvious reasons - if any page is missing, it can be accounted for. The page count is also part of the document's registration in the security catalog.

6) Once in the room, the container (probably a safe i.e. a very heavy duty file cabinet with heavy combination locks with different combinations on each drawer) is opened. This process should be logged by security personnel.

7) The documents are taken from the container. All classified documents are stamped (each page) with items such as a control number, date of creation, level of clearance (top and bottom), program name indicating what access is required and eventual dispensation (i.e. when the material is designated to destruction if applicable).

8) If the documents are classified "top secret", each document has a log on the cover sheet. EACH time a person has access to this information, they must sign and date it.

9) The material is not to be removed (ie stuffed in underwear, socks ... etc) without approval of security personnel. If this takes place, the transfer is documented on both ends of the transaction. If the material is top secret or above, it requires at least two cleared people as an escort.

10) If you travel overnight, the material is not to be kept in your hotel/motel room but instead must be taken to an approved facility. Arrangements are usually made in advance. Security people do not like suprise visits. They like to make them but not receive them.

11) No photocopies are to be made or notes copied without the proper security personnel logging this activity and making appropriate markings (mentioned above) on the documents.

12) This material is frequently audited by internal security agents and is subject to "suprise" audits conducted by military, FBI or other external security personnel.

13) People given access to this type of information are briefed and attend classes on how to handle this material - ie. no excuses for "honest mistakes".

14) As the NSA for the Clinton administration, I imagine Berger was personally responsible that this protocol was designed, implemented and enforced by his staff - at least in an appropriately managed administration. This would apply to government employees, officials, military personnel and civilians under contract and extended clearances issued by the DoD, DoE or other intel operations.

15) As such, ANYBODY who has worked in this environment and heard Mr. Berger's comments yesterday about being "sloppy" and "an honest mistake" knows beyond any doubt that he was not only lying, but this was a premeditated act.

16) I left the aerospace business(as an engineer) in 1993 so these comments are based upon the security world of that time. Only Lord knows how the Clinton administration changed things during his 8 years.

That summarizes what I mentioned to Steve Cannon of WTVN 610 AM (Columbus, Oh) the night after the story broke.

I should have added another issue that may pertain to the current case. The concept of "Working papers". This would be scratch material that is never intended to end up in a document being prepared. For example, preliminary drafts, graphics with various scales, handdrawn sketches, ... etc. Usually, this kind of material is kept in a folder or envelope which is marked as a regular document would be. This folder falls under the same criteria as a regular document ie locking up when not being used ... etc. Usually, this material is collected on a regular basis when the work is finished and tossed into a "burn barrel". The burn barrel is emptied periodically by cleared personnel and either burned or processed through an approved shredder (ends up as dust).

The latest word I have heard is that this material was classified "Code Word Access". Folks, if true, this is "Above Top Secret" ie. John Pollard type material.

So the question comes to mind, why would anybody do such a thing under conditions where he knew he stood a huge chance of being caught? The mission must have been extraordinary for such a risk. The presumption is that he wanted to alter or remove and destroy material that implicated either himself, or quite possibly Mr. Clinton. The fact that some of the material is "lost" implies that regardless of the consequences, the mission has been accomplished with his current situation collateral damage.

Webb Hubbell's infamous quote "I guess I'll have to roll over again for Hillary" comes to mind. Another example of the Clinton whirlwind leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

I should stress that I'm no security expert - but I did work in that environment for nearly 12 years as an engineer in the aerospace industry (stealth technology). Amongst my duties, I was also the secured computer contact person during our department's audits with "The customer" and the FBI. This included things like proving procedures were being followed concerning the registering, cataloging and tracking of classified storage media, secured networks, hardcopy audit trails ... etc. It was not very exciting work - very boring but also needed.

Because of this work, I have a good idea of what that part of the world looks like. Who knows though after #42 and his crowd. I remember how O'leary (spelling) turned the DoE upside down with her wacky ideas of security. Remember the classified media supposedly found behind the copy machine during the Wen Ho-Li case? I have a friend who works for a private computer consulting firm that is contracted by the DoE and I think the DoD to perform inspections at government and contractor facilities. He told me the rules changed significantly during Clinton's years (to the worse) but I have no first hand knowledge

[inquest]

"Considering"....isn't that what Congressional Republicans do best?

Hey, come on, now, they have more important things to do right now. Like investigate steroids in baseball.

[spodefly]

I'll believe it when I see it, you gutless wonders.

If any one of us ordinary citizens had stolen Federal documents and then lied to Federal investigators about it, we would be breaking rocks in Levenworth for the next 20 years. DC insiders always walk away unscathed.

Prove me wrong.

[hosepipe]

[ Rep. King told Malzberg, "He should go to jail." ]

BUT not before the modus operandi is traced..
Why did he do it.?.
Who made a deal for the slap on ther wrist, AND WHY.?
He could NOT have done this ALONE.?. because of the "rules"..
Many questions related to the sheer audacity and arrogance of the deed.?.
The big question, "Do we indeed have any National Security AT ALL."..?.
or is it all game that the politically elite play with each other.?.

i.e. Sandy Burgular, Vince Foster, White Sands LapTop(computers) disappearing, many on the Clintoon death list.. ,Mclaim offered to run as democrat VeeP in 2004, Clintoon offering to SELL the Communist Chinese Terminal Island Naval Base(Long Beach CA.) lock stock and barrel.., many other strange issues..

Yeah the Sandy Berger affair will be watched.. closly.. theres no doubt the Fox is in the Henhouse.. even if Sandy is thrown under the bus, the Fox is still there.. and there seems to be NO barnyard DOG.. or hes developed a taste for CHICKEN..

[Cboldt]

* yawn *

[Liz]

Ponder this: when caught with the goods, Berger admitted to taking top secret documents the Archives did not even know went missing.....leading one to conclude, Berger took a lot more than has been revealed, a lot more than even the Archives knew about.

[wagglebee]

I think there are things at work here that we will never know about. The Justice Department and Berger both seemed overly eager to put a quick end to this, I have a feeling that any Congressional investigations will run into some major "roadblocks" in the way of less than cooperative participation from the Justice Department.