"Why did staff and O-missioners not press for that document??? Granted, they will claim they had an overwhelming amount of work to get through, but that kind of after-action report, covering the ONLY significant strike ever attempted on Bin Laden's network, would seem likely to be among the 5-10 most significant documents of the Clinton years on Al Qaeda....."
I fully agree with what all are bring out. Very valid questions we are formulating in this datamining process. I only wish to stress, that perhaps we place to much emphasise on what Sandy Burger removed from the NA. I wish someone could provide us with a definitive answer as to how the NA handles their archives. Less then two weeks back someone did make a comment to the effect they where certain the NA only provides copies in written/typed form, e.g. paper copies.
In no way however, do my comments on this particular matter elude that I am not fully concerned with all the stuff we continue to examine. Burger is as guilty as a fox holding a hen in it's mouth on so much stuff it is pathetic. So I by no means intend to diminish the gravity of what we discuss.
Just want to appeal to folks that burgler removing stuff from the NA may be only a punishable crime in that he removed things off premise that he was not supposed to do.
Obviously we can without a doubt tie in what he might have removed with so many of the allegations he could be charged with in so many areas, e.g. Chicom give aways, shielding Clintoon from wrong doing, very very sloppy proffesional work ethic that lead to many a blunder as far as breaches in national security, outright actions that protected Al Quaeda operatives from being apprehended etc.. So I do not mean to mininize his offenses.
The word "removing" sounds better than "steal" or "theft." Harris, however, claimed that Berger "left the Archives building with copies of documents that were supposed to remain there..." That's a curious formulation. Did they just stick to his clothes? Were they post-it notes that he sat on? Berger says it was inadvertent or accidental. And Clinton said he didn't have sex with that woman.
However, some drafts of a sensitive after-action report on the Clinton administration's handling of Al Qaeda terror threats during the December 1999 millennium celebration are still missing, officials and lawyers said. Officials said the missing documents also identified America's terror vulnerabilities at airports to seaports.
Berger and his lawyer said Monday night he knowingly removed the handwritten notes by placing them in his jacket, pants and socks, and also inadvertently took copies of actual classified documents in a leather portfolio.
The missing documents involve two or three draft versions of the report as it was being refined by the Clinton administration. The Archives is believed to have copies of some of the missing documents.