"Is avoiding that kind of fate worth the risk of jail time? Is that the bad decision Bergler felt so anxious over, probably with pressure from Clinton and the rest of his team, that he stole classified material from the national archives and destroyed it?"
Destroying copies meant for public viewing does not remove the original materials. The only way the original stuff would get destroyed, is if the Clintoon admin had people at the National Archives in positions of authority and know how somehow over a period of time remove all traces of the information in question. Otherwise whatever Berger removed, destroyed has no meaning. It does not add up in my mind quite frankly. Something continues to bother me about this whole deal concerning Sandy Berger removing classified/declassified materials from the NA facility, e.g. removed from building. It just does not add up, UNLESS he was simply trying to review incriminating stuff he was involved in, by way of reading say memos he created, letters he may have signed, Intel Info reports he was involved in etc., interfaces with certain people in some particular decision making capacity, say something he and Clark might have discussed or made a decision to do/not due etc..
If the original stuff is still on microfilm etc., at the NA, then we are wasting our time on that issue. It probably is going to turn out he removed stuff for his review, CYA syndrome, knowing he may in the future get caught up in some further investigation that such as is now happening via. Weldon. He was caught on video then follow up apprenhended him trying to remove stuff that he was not supposed to, and in the process of taking an inventory of what he signed out for, to read while in the NA premise, it was found he did not return things,and when he did, there where things missing from the inventoried list. We presume he destroyed things. But so what. If they are not the originals. As I had said earlier on in another thread, if our NA is stupid enough to issue originals to anyone on request, then they are all total Asshole*, and deserved to be lined up and then let our Marines or Airborne take them out with a 50 Cal..
Archives officials have said previously that Berger had copies only, and that no original documents were lost. It remains unclear whether Berger knew that, or why he destroyed three versions of a document but left two other versions intact. Officials have said the five versions were largely similar, but contained slight variations as the after-action report moved around different agencies of the executive branch.
If one carefully followed last summer's coverage, it became apparent that each of the 5 versions [taken by Berger] bore unique handwritten notes or markings made by its recipient. That means each copy became an "original" document, i.e. containing information not depicted on the others.
They were not exact copies; each memo started off as a copy of an original draft by Richard Clarke, but the memos had handwritten notes from each recipient as comments, requests for revision, and suggestions for possible action. Each document was unique, and their destruction by Mr. Scissors means that we will never know what some did with Clarke's information. All we know is that it must have reflected badly on Berger, Clinton, or both. Otherwise, why would Berger destroy them?
So...it depends on how you define the word "copies".