Clinton aide probed over missing 9/11 documents

Sandy Berger, former President Bill Clinton’s national security adviser, is under criminal investigation after highly classified terrorism documents disappeared while he was reviewing what should be turned over to the commission probing the September 11 attacks

Berger’s home and office were searched earlier this year by FBI agents armed with warrants after he voluntarily returned some sensitive documents to the National Archives and admitted he also removed hand-written notes he had made while reviewing the sensitive documents.

However, some drafts of a sensitive after-action report on the Clinton administration’s handling of al-Qaida terror threats during the December 1999 millennium celebration are still missing, officials and lawyers said.

Al Felzenberg, spokesman for the September 11 commission, said today the Berger investigation will not impact on the panel’s work in any way. The ten member bipartisan panel releases its final report on Thursday.

“This is a matter between the government and an individual,” he said. “They were not our documents, and we believe we have access to all the materials we need to see to do our report.”

Berger and his lawyer said he knowingly removed the hand-written notes by placing them in his jacket and trousers, and also inadvertently took copies of actual classified documents in a leather portfolio.

“I deeply regret the sloppiness involved, but I had no intention of withholding documents from the commission, and to the contrary, to my knowledge, every document requested by the commission from the Clinton administration was produced,” Berger said in a statement.

The Archives, which is the nation’s repository for presidential papers, is believed to have copies of some of the missing documents.

Lanny Breuer, one of Berger’s lawyers, said his client has offered to cooperate fully with the investigation but had not yet been interviewed by the FBI or prosecutors. Berger has been told he is the subject of the criminal investigation by the Justice Department, Breuer said.

Berger served as Clinton’s national security adviser for all of the president’s second term and most recently has been informally advising Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry.

Clinton asked Berger last year to review and select the administration documents that would be turned over to the commission investigating the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The FBI searches of Berger’s home and office occurred after National Archives employees told agents they believed they witnessed Berger place documents in his clothing while reviewing sensitive Clinton administration papers and that some documents were then noticed missing, officials said.

When asked, Berger said he returned some classified documents that he found in his office and all of the hand-written notes he had taken from the secure room, but could not locate two or three copies of the highly classified millennium terror report.

“In the course of reviewing over several days thousands of pages of documents on behalf of the Clinton administration in connection with requests by the Sept. 11 commission, I inadvertently took a few documents from the Archives,” Berger said.

“When I was informed by the Archives that there were documents missing, I immediately returned everything I had except for a few documents that I apparently had accidentally discarded,” he said.

Breuer said Berger believed he was looking at copies of the classified documents, not originals.

There are laws strictly governing the handling of classified information, including prohibiting unauthorised removal or release of such information.

Government and congressional officials familiar with the investigation said it remains active and no decision has been made on whether Berger should face criminal charges.

The officials said the missing documents were highly classified, and included critical assessments about the Clinton administration’s handling of the millennium terror threats as well as identification of America’s terror vulnerabilities at airports to sea ports.

David Gergen, who was an adviser to Clinton and worked with Berger for a time in the White House, said today, ”I think it’s more innocent than it looks.

“I have known Sandy Berger for a long time. He would never do anything to compromise the security of the United States.”

He said he thought that “it is suspicious” that word of the investigation of Berger would emerge just as the September 11 commission is about to release its report, since ”this investigation started months ago.”