WP: Archives Staff Was Suspicious of Berger

[kskiska]

By John F. Harris and Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 22, 2004; Page A06

Last Oct. 2, former Clinton national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger stayed huddled over papers at the National Archives until 8 p.m.

What he did not know as he labored through that long Thursday was that the same Archives employees who were solicitously retrieving documents for him were also watching their important visitor with a suspicious eye.

After Berger's previous visit, in September, Archives officials believed documents were missing. This time, they specially coded the papers to more easily tell whether some went missing, said government officials and legal sources familiar with the case.

The notion of one of Washington's most respected foreign policy figures being subjected to treatment that had at least a faint odor of a sting operation is a strange one. But the peculiarities -- and conflicting versions of events and possible motives -- were just then beginning in a case that this week bucked Berger out of an esteemed position as a leader of the Democratic government-in-waiting that had assembled around presidential nominee John F. Kerry.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4189-2004Jul21.html

[truthisfreedom]

1. if this is all true, then Sandy is one heck of a sloppy burglar.

how annoying.

[Jim Sagle]

2. NEVER trust anything under Susie Schitt's byline!

[LittleApple81]

5. Is she steno sue? She was the first one with Wilson smear too. n/t

[fearnobush]

8. Yes the Whore returns.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

9. I'm thinking that this was a set-up from the word "go"....

...I bet we find out more about the staff over the next couple of weeks.

[TacticalPeek]

12. "This source and another government official said" - maybe a WH official?

Does it really take the WH to steer this? Haven't the pundits and 'reporters' got the hang of it yet?

Does it really take the WH counsel's office to feed them? Couldn't they find someone besides an officer of the court?

"President Bush (news - web sites)'s spokesman, Scott McClellan, disclosed Wednesday that the Justice Department notified the office of White House legal counsel Alberto Gonzalez about the probe before news of it leaked to the media Monday."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040721/ap_on_el_pr/sept_11_berger_probe&cid=694&ncid=1963&sid=96378798

[leesa]

3. This is such an idotic, desperate smear job.

Were they suspicious that he might catch them shredding Reagan/Bush/Bush records?

[Rose Siding]

11. One report said Clinton laughed about how messy the guy's desk was

If archive types saw that tendency, it could cause them to be precise about what was where, when, during the viewing. It's just being spun like crazy.

[tridim]

4. Mmmmmm.... Berger.

[fr3]

7. LOL funny!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

6. Susan Schmidt. Sigh. More lies and half-truths.

[true grit]

10. I think he handed them to Ollie North

Or maybe he set them on top of Bush's military records.

[Whoa_Nelly]

13. How convenient!

So easy to espress and report suspicions after the fact.

[demoman123]

14. Read on: Berger has been under FBI investigation since January

After Berger's previous visit, in September, Archives officials believed documents were missing. This time, they specially coded the papers to more easily tell whether some disappeared, said government officials and legal sources familiar with the case.

As his attorneys tell it, Berger had no idea in October that documents were missing from the Archives, or that archivists suspected him in the disappearance. It was not until two days later, on Saturday, Oct. 4, that he was contacted by Archives employees who said that they were concerned about missing files, from his September and October visits. This call -- in Berger's version of the chronology, which is disputed in essential respects by a government official with knowledge of the investigation -- was made with a tone of concern, but not accusation.

Berger, his attorney Lanny Breuer said, checked his office and realized for the first time that he had walked out -- unintentionally, he says -- with important papers relating to the Clinton administration's efforts to combat terrorism.

(snip)


By then, however, Archives officials had served notice that there were other documents missing. Despite searching his home and office, Berger could not find them. By January, the FBI had been brought in, and Berger found himself in a criminal investigation -- one that he chose not to tell Kerry's campaign about until this week.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A4189-2004Jul21?language=printer

[Frances]

15. I can't believe any story that Steno Sue writes

because she has been the conduit for Repub talking points for so long. There is no objectivity in her stories.

The Post doesn't have a single reporter that a reader can identify as being a Dem shill. So why do they keep Sue on? It would be better if she were a columnist like Novak.

[Ravy]

16. Here is how we turn this around....

How in the world could security be so lax at the National Archives as to let this happen?

If these documents and making notes on them and taking them out of the room was a GRAVE THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY, how could the archives staff not stop him on the way out of the building?

Are their no video cameras available? A staffer seems to indicate that they saw him stuffing things in his socks. For Heaven's sake... you should STOP people that are doing that. Sandy Burger or Condi Rice, doesn't matter.

So, if it was as bad as the Repugs are making it sound, just ask the question "Why didn't these people stop him from taking the documents and notes?"

They will have to admit that their procedures are lax beyond belief, or (my take) this was no big deal and someone wanted some mileage for letting it occur.

[dolstein]

17. Let's be honest -- Berger screwed Kerry

Seriously -- how could Berger NOT have told the Kerry campaign that he was under federal criminal investigation? This guy served in the Clinton administration. He knew all about how difficult it is to keep these investigations secret. He knew what a bombshell it would be if it were disclosed that a top foreign policy adviser to the Kerry campaign was under criminal investigation. While I realize that there are plausible claims that was Berger did with the achive materials was inadvertant, his decision not to alert the Kerry campaign that he was under federal criminal investigation was quite deliberate, and in my opinion entirely unacceptable. I realize that many DU'ers have a knee-jerk tendency to leap to the defense of anyone under investigation (particularly where the investigation is by a Republican led Justice Department). But lets not overlook the fact that his behavior towards the Kerry campaign was both selfish and destructive.

[underpants]

18. I don't understand why they were out in front on this

Did they really think that this wasn't going to be used by Rove?

Did, as you say, Kerry not know and if not WHY NOT?

Now the measure of this will be how long the press stays on it.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

20. Oh, brother. Please give me a break.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

19. What Berger has already admitted to is a PR disaster for Kerry.

Whether or not this was a sting set-up, whether or not Schmidt is a media whore, this is a screaming scandal in the current climate of partisan intelligence wars over 9/11 and I pray that Kerry can keep distance from it.

I think those of you who think this is no big deal are guilty of wishful thinking. This will inflame the intel war even more and we all know how good the Repubs are at ruthlessly exploiting any opportunity to plunge and twist the dagger of misinformation.

Re: possible sting because of Berger's rep for 'messiness'-

I'm reminded that FBI Deputy Director/bin Laden hunter John O'Neill couldn't find his briefcase for a short time at an FBI conference and this was used to deny him promotion and capped his career. There is speculation that his briefcase issue was an inside job to derail him within the FBI.

Possible parallel?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

21. Maybe you're the one that's guilty of wishful thinking.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

22. Hunh? Not sure what you think I 'wish for.' I agree this is a set-up, too

My concern is that the neocon media dynamic turns every molecule of ammo into an atomic propaganda bomb.

I agree with you that this is probably a set-up. But Berger left himself wide open for it.