[NYCFarmboy]

Berger to pay $50,000 for taking classified material

http://usatoday.printthis.clickabili...partnerID=1660

WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge on Thursday ordered Sandy Berger, President Clinton's national security adviser, to pay a $50,000 fine for illegally taking classified documents from the National Archives.
The punishment handed down by U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson exceeded the $10,000 fine recommended by government lawyers. Under the deal, Berger avoids prison time but he must surrender access to classified government materials for three years.

"The court finds the fine is inadequate because it doesn't reflect the seriousness of the offense," Robinson said, as a grim-faced Berger stood silently.

Earlier in the hearing, Berger expressed remorse for his crime, which he described as a lapse of judgment that came while he was preparing to testify before the Sept. 11 commission.

"I let considerations of personal convenience override clear rules of handling classified material," Berger said. "I believe this lapse, serious as it is, does not reflect the character of myself."

"In this case, I failed. I will not again," he said.

The sentencing capped a bizarre sequence of events in which Berger admitted to sneaking classified documents out of the Archives in his suit, later destroying some of them in his office and then lying about it.

After initially saying it was an "honest mistake," Berger pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material, which contained information relating to terror threats in the United States during the 2000 millennium celebration.


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rule 8 post: we'll never know what he destroyed.

[dcmacdaddy]

He should permanently lose access to classified material. That would effect him more than any $50,000 fine. That penalty would limit all his future "access" as people like him get paid for their access--to people places and information. No access = less gainful employment = Sandy Berger getting a real job.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by dcmacdaddy

He should permanently lose access to classified material. That would effect him more than any $50,000 fine. That penalty would limit all his future "access" as people like him get paid for their access--to people places and information. No access = less gainful employment = Sandy Berger getting a real job.

I agree. At the absolute least, he should permanently lose access to Top Secret material, and frankly I'd run that all the way down to Classified, as you mentioned. He's already proven that he's capable of stealing this kind of material, and if we're truly to move to a "risk-free" society as many people seem to want nowadays then you can't trust someone who's proven themselves capable of that.

Oh, but wait; that means not giving second chances. That isn't very pleasant, now is it?

[Y3a]

Does he get to KEEP the documents for the $50K???

[Spliffdaddy]

I'm sure Bill Clinton paid more than $50,000 to Berger for making those documents disappear. Whose ass do you think Berger was trying to save?

[ghporter]

Sandy Berger belongs in jail for violating the National Security Act, pure and simple. Had he been anyone else, with lesser connections, he'd be doing hard time already. Taking classified information without express permission is ILLEGAL, a FEDERAL FELONY, and subjects the perpetrator to a LARGE list of Very Bad Penalties. A fine is a start-how about some time in a lockup?

[Cold Warrior]

$50,000 doesn't begin to compensate the american people for what it could have (or may have) cost the US in human lives or exposure of sources and methods.

[Spliffdaddy]

If that had been a Republican - this thread would be on page four by now.

[Moderator]

Originally Posted by Spliffdaddy

If that had been a Republican - this thread would be on page four by now.

What me now Splif...watch me call this like it is. Bergmann is a dipsh!te who ought to have been prosecuted. There's no excuse for what he did..its pathetic and embarrassing.

See how easy that was...no partisanship...just call it like it is.

The reason this thread would be to page four if the guy was a Repub is b/c you'd be going to the ends of the earth to defend him.

[Sky Captain]

I'm surprised he hasn't ended up on Clinton's trail of death.