Grand Jury Probes 'Socks Docs'

The New York Post reports that the criminal probe into Sandy Berger sneaking top-secret documents out of the National Archives is now before a federal grand jury:

The "Socks Docs" probe forced Berger, who was President Clinton's national security adviser, to step down as Democrat John Kerry's top foreign-policy adviser last summer.

According to the Post:

Berger admits removing 40 to 50 top-secret documents from the archives, but claims it was an "honest mistake" made while he vetted documents for the 9/11 commission's probe into the Twin Towers attacks.

Berger has also acknowledged that he destroyed some documents — he says by accident.

It's unclear if he destroyed documents with handwritten notations that don't appear on other copies.

I don't understand how anyone, let alone a former national security adviser, can mistakenly remove 40 to 50 secret documents from the achieves. It is even more difficult to imagine how one can accidently destroy documents.

On July 19, California Yankee posted about an Associated Press article reporting that Berger was under investigation after removing highly classified terrorism documents and handwritten notes from a secure reading room during preparations for the September 11 commission hearings. According to that AP article, Berger and his lawyer said Monday night Berger knowingly removed handwritten notes he had made while reading classified anti-terror documents at the archives by sticking them in his jacket and pants. He also inadvertently took copies of actual classified documents in a leather portfolio, they said.

The Post reports that the documents in question include multiple drafts of a review of the 2000 millennium threat said to conclude that only luck prevented a 2000 attack. That story conflicts with Berger's testimony to the September 11 commission, in which he claimed that the millennium attacks were thwarted by vigilance rather than by sheer luck.

On July 30 The Wall Street Journal reported that several prominent Republicans, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, voiced suspicion that Berger may have removed documents that were potentially damaging to President Clinton's record.

Today's New York Post article offers a similar explanation for Berger's removal and destruction of documents:

The commission report makes clear that Berger had a habit of writing candid notes in the margin of memos, sometimes flatly rejecting plans for action.

He nixed a plan to capture Osama bin Laden with one word: "No."

Comments

[Eagle1]

"I don't understand how anyone, let alone a former national security adviser, can mistakenly remove 40 to 50 secret documents from the achieves. It is even more difficult to imagine how one can accidently destroy documents."

Maybe the documents were too cold to look at so he decided to warm them up and then had a "senior moment" and forgot what he had done with them and then when he got home he found them and then placed them on his shredder for safe-keeping and then...or maybe "the devil made him do it" or ...