Sender: Rare book and manuscripts <EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
This article appeared today on Yahoo. It is interesting in security annals
in that it contains a description of how the theft was actually
accomplished. --ECW
+++++++++++++++++++++
Report says Berger hid archive documents
By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer 42 minutes ago
President Clinton's national security adviser removed classified documents
from the National Archives, hid them under a construction trailer and later
tried to find the trash collector to retrieve them, the agency's internal
watchdog said Wednesday.
The report was issued more than a year after Sandy Berger pleaded guilty to
unlawfully removing and retaining classified documents.
Berger took the documents in the fall of 2003 while working to prepare
himself and Clinton administration witnesses for testimony to the Sept. 11
commission. Berger was authorized as the Clinton administration's
representative to make sure the commission got the correct classified
materials.
Inspector General Paul Brachfeld reported that National Archives employees
spotted Berger outside the building, bending down and fiddling with
something white around his ankles.
The employees did not feel at the time that there was enough information to
confront someone of Berger's stature, the report said.
Later, when Berger was confronted by Archives officials about the missing
documents, he lied by saying he did not take them, the report said.
Brachfeld reported that on one visit, Berger took a break to go outside
without an escort while it was dark outside.
"He headed toward a construction area. ... Mr. Berger looked up and down the
street, up into the windows of the Archives and the DOJ (Department of
Justice), and did not see anyone," said notes prepared by the inspector
general's office.
He then slid the documents under a construction trailer, according to the
inspector general. Berger acknowledged that he later retrieved the documents
from the construction area and returned with them to his office.
"He was aware of the risk he was taking," the inspector general's notes
said. Berger then returned to the Archives building without fearing the
documents would slip out of his pockets or that staff would notice that his
pockets were bulging.
The notes said Berger had not been aware that Archives staff had been
tracking the documents he was provided because of earlier suspicions from
previous visits that he was removing materials. Also, the employees had made
copies of some documents.
In October 2003, the report said, an Archives official called Berger to
discuss missing documents from his visit two days earlier. The
investigator's notes said, "Mr. Berger panicked because he realized he was
caught."
The notes said that Berger had "destroyed, cut into small pieces, three of
the four documents. These were put in the trash."
After the trash had been picked up, Berger "tried to find the trash
collector but had no luck," the notes said.
The significant portions of the inspector general's report were redacted to
protect privacy or national security.
Berger's lawyer, Lanny Breuer, said in a statement that the contents of all
the documents exist today and were made available to the commission.
For his guilty plea, Berger was fined $50,000, ordered to perform 100 hours
of community service and barred from access to classified material for three
years.