| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Politix |
| Fox: Sandy Berger to cop a plea on secrets theft |
| 2005-03-31 |
| Â Former national security adviser Sandy Berger (search) will plead guilty to taking classified documents from the National Archives, the Justice Department said Thursday. Berger, who served in the Clinton administration, will enter the plea Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington, said Justice spokesman Bryan Sierra. The plea agreement, if accepted by a judge, ends a bizarre episode in which the man who once had access to the government's most sensitive intelligence was accused of sneaking documents out of the Archives in his clothing. The Bush administration disclosed the investigation days before the Sept. 11 commission (search) issued its final report. Democrats claimed the White House was using Berger to deflect attention from the harsh report, with its potential for damaging Bush's re-election prospects. Berger previously acknowledged he removed from the National Archives (search) copies of documents about the government's anti-terror efforts and notes that he took on those documents. He said he was reviewing the materials to help determine which Clinton administration documents to provide to the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. He called the episode "an honest mistake," and denied criminal wrongdoing. |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |
| #4 UH: I work with stuff of way lower level classification and if did what he did, even without intent, I would have room & board supplied by the government. Three years? I would never be allowed a clearance ever again. Still, he does have a conviction on the record, and does suffer a nominal penalty. He didn't actually walk, which, frankly, I predicted would happen. It's an imperfect world, but it's not hell. |
| Posted by: jackal 2005-03-31 10:58:50 PM |
| #3 A simple mistake any 12 year old could make. But wait, Berger was not a child, but .... |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-03-31 10:56:01 PM |
| #2 You have to wonder what penalties the average researcher would suffer if they were to stuff classified documents in their underwear from the National Archives and then take them off premisis. I can tell you what would happen to an officer in the US military: they'd be facing hard time at Leavenworth. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2005-03-31 10:55:51 PM |
| #1 You have to wonder what penalties the average researcher would suffer if they were to stuff classified documents in their underwear from the National Archives and then take them off premisis. Sandy should have been forced to wear underwear on his head while he rotted in prison. One more example of the Clinton Admin....a pox on American history. |
| Posted by: Uleque Hupains4886 2005-03-31 10:36:53 PM |