 Sandy Berger |
WASHINGTON – What is former national security adviser Sandy Berger up to while the Justice Department continues to investigate him on criminal charges of removing highly classified documents from the National Archives?
While he has officially resigned as an adviser to John Kerry’s presidential campaign, unofficially he continues to give the candidate advice on national security matters and foreign affairs, according to sources close to Berger.
Recently, for instance, he is said to have urged Kerry, should he win the presidency, to change U.S. plans to withdraw some troops from South Korea.
A spokesman from the Department of Justice told WND earlier this month that a criminal investigation of Berger was ongoing, but would not provide details about the nature or timing of the probe.
Berger, who had served as national security adviser to John Kerry’s campaign, was reported in July to be under investigation for removing the documents and handwritten notes from a secure reading room at the National Archives.
Berger was there at the request of former President Clinton, who asked him to review and select the administration documents that would be turned over to the commission.
FBI agents searched his home and office after he voluntarily returned some documents. But some drafts of a sensitive after-action report on the Clinton administration’s handling of al-Qaida terror threats during the December 1999 millennium celebration were found to be missing.
Berger and his lawyer admit he knowingly removed handwritten notes he made while reading classified anti-terror documents by sticking them in his jacket, pants and socks. They said he also inadvertently took copies of actual classified documents in a leather portfolio.
“I deeply regret the sloppiness involved, but I had no intention of withholding documents from the commission, and to the contrary, to my knowledge, every document requested by the commission from the Clinton administration was produced,” Berger said in a statement.
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Jack Cashill