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By Associated PressPresident Clinton's national security adviser knowingly took classified documents from the National Archives.
WASHINGTON - Sandy Berger knew better than almost anyone the ground rules for handling classified documents. As President Bill Clinton's national security adviser, he routinely reviewed the government's most closely held secrets and determined what needed to remain off limits to the public.
But on Friday in federal District Court, he admitted sneaking classified documents out of the National Archives in his suit, cutting up some of them in his office and then lying about it.
U.S. Magistrate Deborah Robinson didn't ask why and Berger never attempted to explain.
Rather than the "honest mistake" he described last summer, Berger admitted he intentionally took and deliberately destroyed three copies of the same document dealing with terror threats during the 2000 millennium celebration.
"Guilty, your honor," Berger responded when asked how he pleaded.
Berger did not say why he cut up the materials and threw them away at the Washington office of his Stonebridge International consulting firm. Accompanied by his wife, Susan, he did not offer an explanation when he addressed reporters outside the federal courthouse after the hearing.
"It was a mistake and it was wrong," he said, refusing to answer questions.
Noel Hillman, chief of the Justice Department's public integrity section, would not discuss Berger's motivation, but said the former national security adviser understood the rules governing the handling of classified materials. Berger only had copies of documents; all of the originals remain in the government's possession, Hillman said.
The charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a fine of as much as $100,000.
However, under a plea agreement that still must be approved by Robinson, Berger would serve no jail time but pay a $10,000 fine, surrender his security clearance for three years and cooperate with investigators. Security clearance allows access to classified government materials.
Sentencing was set for July 8.
The court appearance was the culmination of a bizarre episode in which Berger, who once had access to the government's most sensitive intelligence, was accused of sneaking documents out of the Archives, which houses the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and other cherished and top-secret documents.
The Bush administration disclosed the investigation in July, just days before the Sept. 11 commission issued its final report. Democrats said the White House was using Berger to deflect attention from the panel's findings.
After news of the investigation surfaced, Berger admitted he left the National Archives on two occasions in 2003 with copies of documents about the government's antiterror 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 commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He called the episode "an honest mistake" and denied criminal wrongdoing.
Berger and his lawyer, Lanny Breuer, have said that 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 two copies of a sensitive after-action report on the Clinton administration's handling of al-Qaida terror threats during the December 1999 millennium celebration.
The Associated Press first reported in July that the Justice Department was investigating Berger. The disclosure prompted Berger to step down as an adviser to the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.