Sandy Berger, former National Security Advisor under President Clinton, is going to plead guilty today to removing classified documents from the National Archives, according to a Justice Department spokesperson.

The former Clinton administration official previously acknowledged he removed from the National Archives copies of documents about the government's anti-terror efforts and notes that he took on those documents. He said he was reviewing the materials to help determine which Clinton administration documents to provide to the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

He called the episode "an honest mistake," and denied criminal wrongdoing.

Berger and his lawyer, Lanny Breuer, have said Berger knowingly removed the handwritten notes by placing them in his jacket and pants and inadvertently took copies of actual classified documents in a leather portfolio. He returned most of the documents, but some still are missing.

The charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison and up to a $100,000 fine.

Plus some of the pilfered docs that Berger swiped are still missing. Mission accomplished.

UPDATE: More from Michelle Malkin (when is she going to finally blogroll me!? "Aw man!")

Here is all I want to know: were all of the documents stolen by Berger identical to documents retained by Archives, or did any of Berger's copies have unique notes or markings on them?

The "distinguished competition" strikes again.

Posted by: mhking at 03:45 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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