COPYRIGHT MIA T 2007
Posted on 01/03/2007 11:48:07 PM PST by Jim Robinson
Investigation into pilfered documents reveals former president signed letter
President Bill Clinton signed a letter authorizing former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger's access to classified documents that later came up missing, according to a newly released investigation report by the National Archives and Records Administration.
The sensitive drafts of the National Security Council's "Millennium After Action Review" on the Clinton administration's handling of the al-Qaida terror threats in December 1999 suspiciously disappeared after Berger said he intended to "determine if Executive Privilege needed to be exerted prior to documents being provided to the 9/11 Commission." Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft testified before the 9-11 commission about the millennium report, urging the panel to ask why the document's warnings and "blueprint" to thwart al-Qaida's plans to target the U.S. were ignored by the Clinton administration and not shared with the incoming Bush security staff.
The NARA investigation report said Clinton signed an April 12, 2002, letter designating Berger – and another person whose named is redacted – as "agents on his behalf to review relevant NSC documents regarding Osama Bin Laden/Al Qaeda, Sudan and Presidential correspondence from or to (Sudanese President) Omar Bashir, contained in the Clinton Presidential records." A subsequent letter from a National Security Council official, May 14, 2002, said Berger repeatedly was briefed that "he was not allowed to remove any documentation from NARA."
Last year, Berger plea bargained a criminal sentence on the charge of unlawfully removing and retaining classified documents. A judge gave him no prison time, a $50,000 fine, 100 hours of community service and a ban from access to classified material for three years
According to the NARA report, after the 9-11 attacks, Clinton administration officials were swamped with calls regarding their handling of terrorist threats, and Berger soon realized he would have to testify. Berger said he put in over 100 unpaid hours of his time to be responsive.
The former White House adviser said the documents up for review were so numerous that he was unable to reconstruct them from memory, so he took 10-to-12 pages of notes and hid them in the pocket of his blazer.
The investigation report says, however, the May 14, 2002, letter stated "notes may be taken but must be retained by NARA staff and forwarded to the NSC for a classification review and appropriate marking. Berger, the letter said, "was made aware of this requirement."
In July 2003, Berger's handling of the papers began to "cause archival concerns in maintaining provenance" after he asked to leave the viewing office several times to hold very private phone calls. Later, in September, Berger once again stepped out of the office and headed for the men's room, but personnel reported an unknown white object beneath his pant leg.
A witness said Berger "bent down, fiddling with something white, which could have been papers, around his ankle."
After Berger's actions aroused suspicion in September 2003, an unnamed archives official hand-numbered drafts provided to Berger as a means of controlling the documents without consulting with NARA general counsel, security, management, the Office of the Inspector General or law enforcement.
In October, Berger returned to the archives office and was given one file folder of documents at a time. The NARA report indicates an e-mail numbered 217 came up missing after he reviewed it. Berger later said he slid the document under his portfolio.
When personnel noticed it was missing, they offered a copy of document 217 to Berger, and he reportedly slid the second file under his portfolio as well. Later, Berger said if he had been asked to return the file "it would have triggered a decision for him to give the documents back."
Instead, Berger said he had to make a private phone call and went to a desk outside the office. However, the phone line remained unlit, and he quickly departed to the restroom, a location from which he was reported to have recently returned.
Berger made numerous suspicious visits to the men's room in which personnel were concerned he might be hiding documents. He said he "went to the restroom on an average of every 30 minutes to one hour to use the facilities and stretch his legs."
According to the NARA report, Berger claimed he accidentally took the files outside of the archives building and didn't want to risk bringing documents back because personnel might notice something unusual. Instead, he took the files to a fenced construction area on Ninth Street, slid them under a trailer and returned to the office to finish his review. After doing so, he returned to the site, reclaimed the documents and took them to his office.
During the visit, Berger is reported to have hidden four documents in his pockets, all versions of the Millennium Alert After Action Review.
Archives officials decided to call Berger and ask him for the documents. He said he didn't think he had any files. They advised him NARA was treating the matter as a security infraction and was going to report the incident to the National Security Council. If Berger admitted to taking the documents by mistake, the incident would be reported as inadvertent removal. But, he maintained that staff members were in error, and he had given the files back to an assistant.
Later that evening, Berger claimed to have found two documents, and NARA made arrangements to pick up the files the following morning. However, NARA reports the documents were an e-mail and a facsimile Berger reviewed Sept. 2, 2003, not classified files viewed Oct. 2, 2003.
Berger said he could not find any additional documents and claimed he must have thrown them away. According to the NARA report, "He had destroyed, cut into small pieces, three of the four documents. These were put in the trash. By Saturday, the trash had been picked up. He tried to find the trash collector but had no luck."
The inspector general was briefed on the incidents Oct. 10. That day, OI investigators recovered documents from Berger's home at the request of his attorney. Six months later, the Department of Justice notified the 9/11 commission.
Berger said if someone had always been with him, he would not have taken any documents.
Despite his April 1, 2005, guilty plea for Unauthorized Removal and Retention of Classified Material, Berger still vehemently denies smuggling any documents in his socks. According to the report, he said he was adjusting them "because his shoes frequently come untied and his socks frequently fall down."
"Makes me wonder if Clinton deliberately withheld these AQ threats from the Bush administration and there was correspondence or margin notes to show that..."
Yeah... nothing is beneath the Clintonistas, from the silencing of Slick Willie's many female accusers, to having subpoenaed Whitewater documents mysteriously disappear, to the pardons of felons, to sale of state secrets to China, etc.
Sandy Burglar's defense that he was constantly having to tie his shoes and pull up his socks is absolutely hilarious.
Imagine the media uproar if W or a staff member tried to claim something absurd like that: "We were slow to respond to the 9-11 attacks because all the "w" buttons were mysteriously missing from our computers when I took office."
The Sandy Burglar incident has really gotten under my skin. I was sure he was going to be punished.
But, as brought forth there were alot of ploys that could be used to thwart any serious prosecution.
One is the Great Right Wing Conspiracy. Clintonistas were ready to accuse Republicans of 'crucifixtion'.
If this was a botched leak/handoff, then there's another reporter/MSMr somewhere in Washington these days that didn't hold up his end of the bargain to grab the docs from under the trailer.
Anybody going missing lately?
Any reporters shown up in Ft Marcy Park?
So it's the archive workers' fault then.
Lame excuses.
Sure, Comey is a rat and everybody should have been well aware he's corrupt to the core. And very possibly it was he who directed the Berger charade. But Bush can snap his fingers and station that corrupt clown to a basement office somewhere to stomp on roaches if he wants to. Instead, he elevated the scumbag.
And as far as the Berger case goes, that scandal was widely publicized, and everybody had heard about "Sandy Burglar". Even the Democrat judge in the case blinked at the plea agreement (and only went along with it after she presumably got a phone call from somebody).
I disagree with you that Bush is the kind of President who just sits back and lets underlings pee all over him like this. I think this whole Berger joke was just another case of the old, "We'll go easy on your crooks if you go easy on our crooks" game that is played in Dirty City every day.
It's not what I had hoped for.
The words "Vince Foster" come to mind!
No problem with smuggling documents, just don't accuse him of putting them in his socks. LOL!
Nail Clinton - it wouldn't be double jeopardy.
I have been saying this for SIX YEARS but nobody will listen.
Heck, Ashcroft even went to Congress just to try to MOVE some people around and Congress said NO. You cannot get rid of civil servants, period.
And the last thing Bill Clinton did as he went out of the door of the Oval Office was to make the vast majority of his political appointees CIVIL SERVANTS.
But, but, but.... none of that was as baaaaaaaad as this, dontchaknow:
Post #63 in the thread below:
"The truth about Watergate is never told by the MSM because it is actually more embarrassing to to the Dems than to the Repubs.
Nixon's Plumbers were trying to get some dirt on one of the DNC's top guys; I think his name was O'Brien. O'Brien's "Head" secretary was running a liaison service with a brothel across the street from the Watergate hotel, where the Dem's had there Nat'l HQ.
The break-in was not about getting Dem strategic secrets, instead it was intended to get the names of the "Johns" from all over the country who had both visited the DNC and the "house of ill repute". G.Gordon Liddy relates the story well....JJ61
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: A VAST SLEEPER CELL(Ann Coulter)
anncoulter.com ^ | January 3, 2007 | Ann Coulter
Posted on 01/03/2007 6:25:59 PM EST by kellynla
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1762017/posts
I can't understand why people REFUSE to understand how the Civil Service laws work. The compulsion to blame Bush must just be overwhelming!
"because his shoes frequently come untied and his socks frequently fall down."................Tell me that isn't something only a defense attorney would come up with as an excuse.
Now that is the spin of the day!
COPYRIGHT MIA T 2007
Surely not! *crickets*
The ignoring of this by the MSM is the best example of bias ever. My liberal friends respond to my questions about this with sullen silence.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.