Former National Security Advisor to President Clinton, Sandy Berger, who was caught up in taking classified documents out of the National Library reportedly will plead guilty in a plea bargain.

While the plea agreement requires Berger to give up his secret security clearance for three years, it also reportedly allows him to have his clearance reviewed and restored within that time if the government were to ask him to serve on a panel or in another position with access to sensitive material. It could mean he avoids any prison time.

[snip]

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.

An honest mistake? If someone were taking documents as an honest mistake, they would not hide them in their pants and socks. The problem is that this was a criminal activity. Taking classified documents is punishable by the law.

The plea bargain is an absolute joke. Berger has admitted to taking classified documents and this should not be a small charge which is now the case as it appears all Berger will lose is his national security clearence. The only reason why a plea bargain would have been prefered over a full case is because the contents of the case, along with what Berger took, would be confidential.

Still to this date we do not know what was actually in those documents. Was it the fact that he personally pulled the plug on two assassination attempts on Osama Bin Laden and counseled President Clinton not to take Bin Laden into custody when he was offered? Because these documents were not presented to the 9/11 Commission, the 9/11 Commission’s findings are compromised because of Berger’s “honest mistake.”

Why was there a plea bargain?

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