Homo Politicus by Dana Milbank: Samuel Berger

Homo Politics: Sandy Berger

Another former high White House official turned outcaste is Sandy Berger, who as Bill Clinton's national security adviser was one of the most powerful in Potomac Land. In 2003, this man who once controlled the fate of millions, walked out of the National Archives with documents related to his performance on terrorism. Berger said he merely walked off inadvertently – twice -- with copies of classified documents and then lost them. His political opponents alleged that he removed them in his underwear, or even ate them. In either case, he was clearly trying to avoid an embarrassing writeup in the September 11 commission's report of his actions, or inaction, on the rising threat of terrorism.

A report by the National Archives' inspector general, issued in December, 2006, described Berger's crime: "He headed towards a construction area on Ninth Street. Mr. Berger looked up and down the street, up into the windows of the Archives and the DOJ and did not see anyone." He folded the notes "in a V shape," then "walked inside a construction fence and slid the documents under a trailer." Later, "Mr. Berger left the building, retrieved the documents and notes from the construction area, and returned to his office."

In 2005, he accepted a three-year suspension of his security clearance and paid a fine. And he had to admit that he didn't misplace the missing documents; he shredded them. And things would only get worse. Two days that court plea, he got in more legal trouble, this time for reckless driving. He was going 88 in his Lexus on a 55-mph part of I-66 in Virginia. For ordinary men, it would have been an annoying matter but not an embarrassing one. For Berger, it meant another round of news stories. If anybody missed those stories, they probably caught the ones about House Republicans demanding a congressional investigation into his document heist, or the ads from a conservative group alleging Berger "stole and ate classified documents that exposed the failures of the Clinton anti-terrorism policies."


		Homo Politics: Sandy Berger Another former high White House official turned outcaste is Sandy Berger, who as Bill Clinton's national security adviser was one of the most powerful in Potomac Land. In 2003, this man who once controlled the fate of millions, walked out of the National Archives with documents related to his performance on terrorism. Berger said he merely walked off inadvertently – twice -- with copies of classified documents and then lost them. His political opponents alleged that he removed them in his underwear, or even ate them. In either case, he was clearly trying to avoid an embarrassing writeup in the September 11 commission's report of his actions, or inaction, on the rising threat of terrorism. A report by the National Archives' inspector general, issued in December, 2006, described Berger's crime: "He headed towards a construction area on Ninth Street. Mr. Berger looked up and down the street, up into the windows of the Archives and the DOJ and did not see anyone." He folded the notes "in a V shape," then "walked inside a construction fence and slid the documents under a trailer." Later, "Mr. Berger left the building, retrieved the documents and notes from the construction area, and returned to his office." In 2005, he accepted a three-year suspension of his security clearance and paid a fine. And he had to admit that he didn't misplace the missing documents; he shredded them. And things would only get worse. Two days that court plea, he got in more legal trouble, this time for reckless driving. He was going 88 in his Lexus on a 55-mph part of I-66 in Virginia. For ordinary men, it would have been an annoying matter but not an embarrassing one. For Berger, it meant another round of news stories. If anybody missed those stories, they probably caught the ones about House Republicans demanding a congressional investigation into his document heist, or the ads from a conservative group alleging Berger "stole and ate classified documents that exposed the failures of the Clinton anti-terrorism policies." Copyright 2007-2008 by Dana Milbank
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