Prison time for the Burglar?

[SuperScout]

A House committee released a report today concluding former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger went to extraordinary lengths to compromise national security and that the Department of Justice could not assure the 9/11 commission that it received the documents it requested. Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, ranking Republican member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said his staff's investigation reveals Berger "compromised national security much more than originally disclosed."

"It is now also clear that Mr. Berger was willing to go to extraordinary lengths to compromise national security, apparently for his own convenience," Davis said.

A newly released investigation report by the National Archives and Records Administration showed President Bill Clinton signed a letter authorizing Berger's access to the classified documents.
Last year, Berger plea bargained a criminal sentence on the charge of unlawfully removing and retaining classified documents. A judge gave him no prison time, a $50,000 fine, 100 hours of community service and a ban from access to classified material for three years.

Davis said the 9/11 commission "relied on incomplete and misleading information regarding its access to documents" Berger reviewed. The commission was never told Berger had access to original documents that he could have taken without detection, Davis stated. "Mr. Berger's review of documents did not conform to the usual requirements for reviewing classified documents in a secure facility and under strict supervision," he said. "The archives staff's failure to contact law enforcement immediately and their contacts with Mr. Berger about the missing documents compromised the law enforcement effort."

Davis said the "compromised law enforcement effort contributes to reduced confidence that the 9/11 commission received all the documents it requested."

"The execution of a search warrant before Mr. Berger knew there was an investigation would have either located additional documents or enhanced confidence that he stole no others than those he admitted to taking," he said. Davis also said the public statements of the former chief of the public integrity section, Noel Hillman, were "incomplete and misleading."

"Because Mr. Berger had access to original documents that he could have taken without detection, we do not know if anything 'was lost to the public or the process,'" Davis said. The congressman contended the Justice Department's assertion that Berger's statements are credible after being caught is "misplaced."

"One wouldn't rely on the fox to be truthful after being nabbed in the hen house ," Davis said. "But the Justice Department apparently did." Davis also referred to revelations last month from the National Archives investigation, which revealed Berger left stolen highly classified documents at a construction site to avoid detection.

The document upon which Berger focused was the National Security Council's "Millennium After Action Review" on the Clinton administration's handling of the al-Qaida terror threats in December 1999. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft testified before the 9-11 commission about the millennium report, urging the panel to ask why the document's warnings and "blueprint" to thwart al-Qaida's plans to target the U.S. were ignored by the Clinton administration and not shared with the incoming Bush security staff.