04-01-2005, 12:06 PM
Ex-National Security Adviser to Plead Guilty to Taking Classified Material
Friday, April 01, 2005
PHOTOS
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STORIES
•Berger Heist In Front of Grand Jury•Berger Probe Focuses on Terror Plot Docs•House Panel to Investigate Berger•Raw Data Kerry Campaign Letter on Berger •Berger 'I Deeply Regret' an 'Honest Mistake'•Fast Facts Sandy Berger•Sandy Berger Probed Over Terror Memos
WASHINGTON — Sandy Berger (search), who was President Clinton's top national security aide, has acknowledged taking classified documents from the National Archives (search) and cutting them up with scissors, law enforcement officials said Friday.
Rather than the "honest mistake" he acknowledged last summer, Berger told Justice Department lawyers he intentionally took and deliberately destroyed three copies of the same document dealing with terror threats during the 2000 millennium (search) celebration, said the officials. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because Berger's plea had not yet been accepted by a judge.
A U.S. District Court hearing was scheduled for Friday afternoon, at which time Berger was expected to enter a guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge.
The court appearance was the culmination of 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, which houses the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and other cherished and top-secret documents.
The charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison and up to a $100,000 fine.
However, the plea agreement calls for Berger to serve no jail time but to pay a $10,000 fine, surrender his security clearance for three years and cooperate with investigators, the officials said. Berger also was required to acknowledge that taking the documents was not inadvertent, they said.
Friday, April 01, 2005
PHOTOS
Click image to enlarge
STORIES
•Berger Heist In Front of Grand Jury•Berger Probe Focuses on Terror Plot Docs•House Panel to Investigate Berger•Raw Data Kerry Campaign Letter on Berger •Berger 'I Deeply Regret' an 'Honest Mistake'•Fast Facts Sandy Berger•Sandy Berger Probed Over Terror Memos
WASHINGTON — Sandy Berger (search), who was President Clinton's top national security aide, has acknowledged taking classified documents from the National Archives (search) and cutting them up with scissors, law enforcement officials said Friday.
Rather than the "honest mistake" he acknowledged last summer, Berger told Justice Department lawyers he intentionally took and deliberately destroyed three copies of the same document dealing with terror threats during the 2000 millennium (search) celebration, said the officials. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because Berger's plea had not yet been accepted by a judge.
A U.S. District Court hearing was scheduled for Friday afternoon, at which time Berger was expected to enter a guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge.
The court appearance was the culmination of 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, which houses the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and other cherished and top-secret documents.
The charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison and up to a $100,000 fine.
However, the plea agreement calls for Berger to serve no jail time but to pay a $10,000 fine, surrender his security clearance for three years and cooperate with investigators, the officials said. Berger also was required to acknowledge that taking the documents was not inadvertent, they said.