Do not miss Trent Telenko’s further investigation into “The Follies Berger.” I’m not sure I agree with all of Trent’s conclusions, but I’m thinking about them and, in fairness to the guy, they are “worst case scenarios.” And in any case, Telenko makes clear the behavior of the 9/11 Commission members – on both sides of the aisle – has been disgraceful on this matter (not to mention the employees of the National Archives themselves). I hope the blogosphere stays on this because this is, to put it mildly, something the mainstream media is unlikely to investigate on a thorough basis. Bravo, Trent!
UPDATE: The report by the WSJ article quoted by Swopa below does negate many of Trelenko’s suspicions, although it does not answer why Berger sneaked the copies out of the Archives (twice), why he kept them or who else might have seen them. Also, some of these copies may still be missing.
Ahh, a bit of unfortunate timing there, Roger:
Officials looking into the removal of classified documents from the National Archives by former Clinton National Security Adviser Samuel Berger say no original materials are missing and nothing Mr. Berger reviewed was withheld from the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
. . . Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said officials there “are confident that there aren’t any original documents missing in relation to this case.” She said in most cases, Mr. Berger was given photocopies to review, and that in any event officials have accounted for all originals to which he had access.
That included all drafts of a so-called after-action report prepared by the White House and federal agencies in 2000 after the investigation into a foiled bombing plot aimed at the Millennium celebrations. That report and earlier drafts are at the center of allegations that Mr. Berger might have permanently removed some records from the archives. Some of the allegations have related to the possibility that drafts with handwritten notes on them may have disappeared, but Ms. Cooper said archives staff are confident those documents aren’t missing either.
Daniel Marcus, general counsel of the 9/11 Commission, said the panel had been assured twice by the Justice Department that no originals were missing and that all of the material Mr. Berger had access to had been turned over to the commission. “We are told that the Justice Department is satisfied that we’ve seen everything that the archives saw,” and “nothing was missing,” he said.
But hey, I’m sure they’re all lying to protect Berger (including those notorious traitors in the Ashcroft-led Justice Department)!
Trelenko is wrong when he says, “Last, the Bush Administration needs to start disciplining the Federal bureaucracies when they fail. Bush has steadfastly refused to fire anyone in the Federal bureaucracies for incompetence and by doing so has made their incompetence his own.”
John W. Carlin was asked to resign in back in December.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13913-2004Jul25.html
Carlin is a partisan Democrat, a former Democrat governor who ran who ran Clinton’s campaign in Kansas. Even the highly-partisan John Dean of Watergate fame found the appointment of Carlin partisan.
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20040423.html
Speaking of Carlin, a Lucianne poster asked, “Is this the guy that contacted Bruce Lindsay instead of the FBI when he witnessed Berger stealing archives? “
Even if this is true Swopa, I still have the following concerns:
1. I find it beyond credulity that the former National Security Advisor (!!) could have so flagrantly ignored and abused security protocol. To a certain extent, I would cut him some slack during the halcyon, laid back Clinton era–but certainly not post 9/11. And certainly not in view of his purpose and the subject matter of the materials.
2. Even if all the originals are still within the Archives, it does not explain the “smuggling” action by Berger nor the risk that the removed copies could have fallen in the wrong hands.
I find the ‘dishevelled absent-minded professor’ defense an insult to anyone’s intelligence. The man should be booted forever for dangerous disorganization, alone, then.
Interesting. No originals are missing, but they do NOT claim the same for photocopies. Neither is there any assurance there weren’t handwritten notes on any photocopies.
Also unanswered by the WSJ report is whether the reason that the Commission saw all the archived materials was because Berger’s theft of documents was discovered and the missing documents replaced.
Copies of classified documents have the same security classification as the originals.
Swopa, what you’re saying is equivalent to “Oh, gee, he robbed the bank but we’re pretty sure we got most of the money back.”
Re: the copies, remember that not only are the copies as classified as the originals, but any handwritten notes are classified at least as highly as the highest classification of the originals, and very probably higher than any single original. (I explained how this works in a previous thread) so even just stashing his notes was a federal crime.
I doubt a damaging security breech happened.
I hope history wasn’t damaged.
In any case, Berger should spend a long time behind bars.
The question came up of where CDS came from. One place was the reports of the cavalier handling of security by the White House, which included not safeguarding information, letting people without a need to know look at it, granting access and clearances before the background checks were done, and a general attitude towards security that it was a nuisance.
Swopa:
This confirms my opinions on the matter. As you know, I believe Berger will will be given a get out jail free card because he is a former NSA, however, it still says a lot of negative things about the man. He is arrogant and like most of the Clintonites does not believe rules apply to him because of his superior intelligence. The fact remains that he failed in his responsibilities when vetoed four actions aimed at killing or capturing Bin Laden. His poor decision making skills are indicative of the failure of the last adminstration to take actions that could have prevented 9-11. I bet he will be back in Kerry’s good graces soon. Apparently Joe Wilson is still an “informal” advisor. See http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/18230.htm.
Slightly off topic. Did anybody here Kerry’s comments at his post conventional rally near the Old North Church? He said they had intelligence back then that was better then we have now. (quote is imprecise). Kerry is counting on historical amnesia to present himself as a strong leader. As we all know that Kerry attempted to make deep cuts in the Intelligence budget in the 1990′s. I hope the Bush campaign creates a series of ads to connect the dots between that statement, his love affair with Wilson, Berger and Clark and his antipathy to US Security interests throughout his career.
Hmm.
This is interesting. According to NewsMax the the spokesman for the National Archives, Susan Cooper, has denied the WSJ article. According to her:
“In spite of what the Wall Street Journal said, the National Archives really isn’t commenting on this case because it’s under investigation,”
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/7/30/120251.shtml
Ok. This makes things more amusing.
Roger,
Two points:
1) CNN and Fox News Channel just announced that a criminal investigation of Sandy Berger’s security breach is underway. That make’s the WSJ article purest spin.
2) Please spell my last name correctly.
Slightly OT, but it seems to me the editorial page of the WSJ has been on Berger like stink on ____. Is there that big a disconnect between the news desk and the opinion page of the WSJ?
Swopa,
Your post strikes me as the “he didn’t steal from the homeowner, he stole from the insurance company” defense. That dog don’t hunt.
I am struck here by what is not being said:
“. . . Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said officials there “are confident that there aren’t any original documents missing in relation to this case.” She said in most cases, Mr. Berger was given photocopies to review, and that in any event officials have accounted for all originals to which he had access. ”
This does NOT say that the archive got back all the material that left with Sandy Berger. It just says the staff has all the material accounted for.
The staff were onto him, don’t forget. I’ve suspected from the start that they had made copies of whatever they let him see.
“In spite of what the Wall Street Journal said, the National Archives really isn’t commenting on this case because it’s under investigation,” Susan Cooper, chief spokeswoman for the Archives, told NewsMax.com.Curtesy Ed
So who is being disingenuous here? It is reasonable to expect this to be sub judice if it is a Federal matter.
Is there that big a disconnect between the news desk and the opinion page of the WSJ?
Apparently there really is. The WSJ is quite proud of the “chinese wall” policy between them.
The Wall Street Journal news operation appears to be somewhat liberal. The Opinion Section is most definitely conservative, and very well done – it’s the main reason I get the paper.