Partisan Spat Over Berger Leak
By David Paul Kuhn,
CBSNews.com Chief Political Writer
Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, the former national security adviser to President Clinton, took center stage this week in a deeply partisan political drama after it was leaked that he was the target of a nine-month long investigation by the FBI. The leak came the same week that the final report by the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks was to be released.
On Tuesday, Berger resigned his role as an unpaid adviser to Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign following allegations that he mishandled classified documents.
The resignation, less than one day after the media leak, illustrates how serious Democrats are taking any hint of scandal. But the damage control did not stop top Republicans on the Hill from lambasting Berger and linking his transgressions to the coming election.
"I deal with classified documents every single day. We know better, and Sandy Berger knew better," said Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. "And for gosh sakes, Sen. Kerry knows better than to utilize those documents in any way. And we think it needs to be called into question as to whether or not they have."
Adding to the partisan vitriol, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, called Berger's actions on Tuesday a "third-rate burglary" and a "gravely, gravely serious" threat to national security.
Berger spent a total of 30 hours on July 18, September 2 and October 2 of last year reviewing classified material in preparation for his testimony before the Sept. 11 panel. Berger removed classified materials and later, upon notification from government officials, returned most of the documents.
"Last year, when I was in the Archives reviewing documents, I made an honest mistake. It's one that I deeply regret," Berger told reporters Tuesday. "I dealt with this issue in October 2003 fully and completely. Everything that I have done all along in this process has been for the purpose of aiding and supporting the work of the 9/11 Commission. And any suggestion to the contrary is simply, absolutely wrong."
And the timing of the leak couldn't have been more fortuitous for Republicans. The commission is scheduled to release its report midday on Friday. It is expected to be heavily critical of both the Bush and Clinton administrations.
The report presents a direct political threat to the Bush candidacy, since Mr. Bush is running on the theme he has exhibited steady leadership in trying times. By no coincidence, say Democrats and some Republicans, the Berger probe was leaked the same week that the commission's findings were set to be made public.
"Somebody is manipulating the process," Republican strategist Eddie Mahe told CBS News. "I will say that categorically, for some agenda of some kind."
Democrats argue this is a case of dirty politics. Admitting Berger's actions were careless, they point out that he did not hinder national security. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., told reporters "the timing speaks for itself."
One source close to the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, explained that the probe surrounded a memorandum related to the millennium terrorism plot, written by former Clinton and Bush senior anti-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke.
The memorandum was done at the behest of Berger, and was meant to take a critical look at the Clinton administration's handling of terrorism. The Sept. 11 commission said Tuesday that Berger's actions did not impede its investigation.
But at a minimum, the leak disarms Kerry's most utilized surrogate on national security issues. In March, for example, Berger told reporters that "it is increasingly clear that how we conducted the war in Iraq has made the terrorist problem more difficult." The flap may also put in jeopardy any hopes Berger had of a Cabinet position, such as defense secretary, under a possible Kerry administration.
"There are serious questions about Mr. Berger's conduct and by his association with the Kerry campaign we wonder whether or not the information Berger obtained benefited the Kerry campaign in some way," said Bush campaign spokesman Terry Holt, adding that this was "one of the most egregious developments of this whole process."
After first denying knowledge of the investigation, the White House admitted Wednesday that it knew for months, though it denied leaking the information. The source of the story, first reported by the Associated Press, remains unclear.
"We have attempted to have a serious and open discussion with the Department of Justice for the better part of the year, regarding events a year old," Berger's lawyer Lanny A. Breuer said. "And very unfortunately, someone, and I don't know, decided to leak the existence of this investigation... days before the release of the 9/11 commission report."