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[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
This is a surprise? Hell, Weinberger was pardoned pre-indictment.

S_A_M

P.S. That said, Jesus Christ, Berger!

Yeah.

Some additional perspectives from Laura Rozen:

• Readers with clearances respond to Berger case. Earlier today, I asked for feedback about whether Sandy Berger's behavior is as baffling to those with security clearances as it was to me. Several people responded, and a few have agreed to let me post their perspectives anonymously.
  
  Reader J:
  
  Responding to your question, and having held Top Secret clearances now for the last six years, I am at a loss to explain what Berger was thinking. The GOP charges that Berger was engaged in some type of cover-up are difficult to believe -- the 9/11 Commission had full access to the Clarke report that Berger purloined -- it did not need the National Archives copy. That report was fully referenced in the final Commission report. If Berger did all this to cover something up, he is more stupid than criminal.
  
  I have heard the following explanations:
  
  1) Berger is, and always has been, an incredibly sloppy man, both in his personal appearance and his work organization. The initial claim that this was an inadvertent mistake fits into that caricature, although Berger has now admitted the removal was intentional.
  
  2) This memo in question was drafted by Richard Clarke, but ultimately was signed out to the President under Berger's signature. Why couldn't he take home a document that he "authored"? It was not as if he was learning anything new. I suspect this attitude permeates many national security officials, including myself at times. Rampant and needless overclassification afflicts our government. 50% of classified material does not contain sensitive materials that could compromise the security of our nation; more often than not, they are classified to avoid embarrassing U.S. officials or embarrasing foreign officials. But to argue that "loose lips sink ships" is a gross distortion of truly sensitive material, i.e. Ahmed Chalabi telling the Iranians the U.S. have broken the code to their electronic communications, versus more routine material that still is classified, e.g. notes on a meeting between low-level U.S. officials meeting with their low-level German counterparts.
  
  3) Finally, hubris. Berger was the NSC Advisor and a highly influential foreign policy official for decades. He is used to having assistants bring him documents and them remove them for storage in safes. Now, here he was, sitting at the National Archives, reviewing a ton of documents, without even one aide to help him. Why should a man like he, who served at the pinnacle of U.S. government, have to check his documents in and out with menial National Archives staff? "Pride goeth before the fall."
  
  Whatever the case, contrary to the Times speculaton, Berger's career as a U.S. government official is over. He is guilty of committing a misdemeanor, a charge that would disqualify you or I from ever holding a U.S. security clearance. Imagine a confirmation hearing for Berger.