[Mb-civic] Berger Cleared of Withholding Material from 9/11 Commission

[Michael Butler]

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    Berger Cleared of Withholding Material from 9/11 Commission
    By Scot J. Paltrow
    The Wall Street Journal

     Friday 30 July 2004

     Officials looking into the removal of classified documents from the
National Archives by former Clinton National Security Adviser Samuel Berger
say no original materials are missing and nothing Mr. Berger reviewed was
withheld from the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror
attacks.

     Several prominent Republicans, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert
and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, have voiced suspicion that when Mr.
Berger was preparing materials for the 9/11 Commission on the Clinton
administration's antiterror actions, he may have removed documents that were
potentially damaging to the former president's record.

     The conclusion by archives officials and others would seem to lay to
rest the issue of whether any information was permanently destroyed or
withheld from the commission.

     Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said officials there "are confident
that there aren't any original documents missing in relation to this case."
She said in most cases, Mr. Berger was given photocopies to review, and that
in any event officials have accounted for all originals to which he had
access.

     That included all drafts of a so-called after-action report prepared by
the White House and federal agencies in 2000 after the investigation into a
foiled bombing plot aimed at the Millennium celebrations. That report and
earlier drafts are at the center of allegations that Mr. Berger might have
permanently removed some records from the archives. Some of the allegations
have related to the possibility that drafts with handwritten notes on them
may have disappeared, but Ms. Cooper said archives staff are confident those
documents aren't missing either.

     Daniel Marcus, general counsel of the 9/11 Commission, said the panel
had been assured twice by the Justice Department that no originals were
missing and that all of the material Mr. Berger had access to had been
turned over to the commission. "We are told that the Justice Department is
satisfied that we've seen everything that the archives saw," and "nothing
was missing," he said.

     Mr. Berger's lawyer has said his client returned all of the photocopies
after he was questioned about missing items by archives staff. But officials
have said they are still looking into whether some of the photocopies may
have been destroyed. It is illegal to remove classified material in any form
from the archives.

     Late last year, archives personnel called in investigators when some
classified materials were discovered missing after Mr. Berger reviewed them
in response to a 9/11 Commission request for Clinton-era national-security
records. Staff members became suspicious that Mr. Berger had removed items
during a first visit, and on a second visit secretly numbered copies given
to him and determined afterward that not all had been returned. By some
accounts, Mr. Berger had been observed by the staff stuffing papers into his
clothing, although Mr. Berger's lawyer, Lanny Breuer, has denied that.

     So far no charges have been filed. Mr. Breuer has said that on two
occasions his client had inadvertently removed several photocopies of the
Millennium after-action report, but later returned them.

  

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