Sandy Berger

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This article is about the American security advisor. For the Canadian football owner, see Sam Berger.

Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger (born October 28, 1945) served as the 19th United States National Security Advisor under President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001.

Originally from Millerton, New York (and born in nearby Sharon, Connecticut), Berger earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1967 and his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School in 1971. He began working in Texas for Senator George McGovern's presidential campaign. There, he met Bill Clinton, forming a friendship that would last for decades.

After the McGovern campaign, Berger gained experience working in a variety of government posts, including Deputy Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department from 1977 to 1980 under Secretary of State Cyrus Vance during the Carter administration. Later Berger urged Clinton to run for president. Berger served as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to Governor Clinton during the campaign, and as Assistant Transition Director for National Security of the 1992 Clinton-Gore Transition.

During Clinton's first term of office (1993-1997), Berger served as deputy national security advisor, under Anthony Lake. In Clinton's second term of office, Berger succeeded Lake as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs from 1997 to 2001. In this time he advised the President regarding ongoing operations in Iraq and responses to the terrorist bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He was also one of the prominent actors of the Camp David 2000 Summit.

In 2004, Berger was called to testify before the 9/11 Commission regarding steps taken against terrorism during his tenure and the information he provided to his successor, Condoleezza Rice.

[edit] Convicted of mishandling classified terror documents

On July 19, 2004, it was revealed that the U.S. Justice Department was investigating Berger for unlawfully mishandling classified documents on October 2003, by removing them from a National Archives reading room prior to testifying before the 9/11 Commission. The documents were commissioned from Richard Clarke about the Clinton administration's handling of terrorist threats. When initially questioned, Berger claimed that the removal of top-secret documents in his attache-case and handwritten notes in his jacket and pants pockets was accidental. He later, in a guilty plea, admitted to deliberately removing materials and then cutting them up with scissors. [1]

Critics believe Berger's motives were more sinister than mere mishandling of classified documents. They have suggested that he destroyed primary evidence revealing anti-terrorism policies and actions, and that his motive was to permanently erase Clinton administration pre-9/11 mistakes from the public record. Public statements to this effect have been made by Rush Limbaugh, John Gibson, Dick Morris, Jack Kelley, Mark Wolfrey and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. who said: "What information could be so embarrassing that a man with decades of experience in handling classified documents would risk being caught pilfering our nation's most sensitive secrets?"

After a long investigation, the lead prosecutor Noel Hillman, chief of the Justice Department's public integrity section, stated that Berger only removed classified copies of data stored on hard drives stored in the National Archives, and that no original material was destroyed. The records he took were related to internal assessments of the Clinton administration's handling of the failed 2000 millennium attack plots. [2].

This led The Wall Street Journal to editorialize against the allegations, stating in part: "After a long investigation, however, Justice says the picture that emerged is of a man who knowingly and recklessly violated the law in handling classified documents, but who was not trying to hide any evidence. Prosecutors believe Mr. Berger genuinely wanted to prepare for his testimony before the 9/11 Commission but felt he was somehow above having to spend numerous hours in the Archives as the rules required, and that he didn't exactly know how to return the documents once he'd taken them out...We called Justice Department Public Integrity chief prosecutor Noel Hillman, who assured us that Mr. Berger did not deny any documents to history. 'There is no evidence that he intended to destroy originals,' said Mr. Hillman. 'There is no evidence that he did destroy originals. We have objectively and affirmatively confirmed that the contents of all the five documents at issue exist today and were made available to the 9/11 Commission.'"[3]

Despite statements from prosecutors, some critics continue to make unsubstantiated allegations. This led The Wall Street Journal to reiterate its position on April 8, 2005, stating "Some people won't let a bad conspiracy theory go". The paper went on to say: "The confusion seems to stem from the mistaken idea that there were handwritten notes by various Clinton Administration officials in the margins of these documents, which Mr. Berger may have been able to destroy. But that's simply an 'urban myth,' prosecutor Hillman tells us, based on a leak last July that was 'so inaccurate as to be laughable.' In fact, the five iterations of the anti-terror 'after-action' report at issue in the case were printed out from a hard drive at the Archives and have no notations at all."[4]

On April 1, 2005, in connection with the documents investigation, Berger pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material. Under a plea agreement, U.S. attorneys recommended a fine of $10,000 and a loss of security clearance for three years. However, on September 8, U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson increased the fine to $50,000 at Berger's sentencing. Robinson stated, "The court finds the fine [recommended by government prosecutors] is inadequate because it doesn't reflect the seriousness of the offense."

Mr. Berger is the second senior Clinton administration official to be implicated in mishandling classified documents. Former CIA Director John M. Deutch was caught improperly storing highly classified defense documents on his personal computer in 1999. Mr. Deutch, who agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified documents, was pardoned by Mr. Clinton in January 2001, before a sentence was imposed. [5]

[edit] External links

• Archives Staff Was Suspicious of Berger Washington Post
• "Berger Pleads Guilty to Taking Materials" (SFGate.com)
• Judge increases Berger's fine to $50,000. (USAToday.com)

Preceded by: Anthony Lake

United States National Security Advisor 1997–2001

Succeeded by: Condoleezza Rice

National Security Advisors of the United States
Cutler | Anderson | Jackson | Cutler | Gray | Bundy | Rostow | Kissinger | Scowcroft | Brzezinski | Allen | Clark | McFarlane | Poindexter | Carlucci | Powell | Scowcroft | Lake | Berger | Rice | Hadley