Just how low will the girlie men go to win in November? As low
as they — and their U.N. parallel universe — need to. The proofs
of that were coming at us thick and fast in the week before the Dem
national convention. First we had Kofi Annan’s latest attempt to
influence the election. His Excellency the Secretary General
delivered himself of the opinion that — contrary to what W says —
the world isn’t safer now than it was a few years ago. But at least
America is, as even the 9/11 Commission couldn’t avoid saying only
days later.
(Just for fun, contrast Kofi’s comments and Dubya’s non-response
with the near hysteria last month from old Jacques Whathisname at
Dubya’s mere suggestion that the EU finally let Turkey join.
Jacques responded, “He not only went too far but he has gone into a
domain which is not his own…He has nothing to say on this
subject. It is as if I were to tell the United States how it should
conduct its relations with Mexico.”)
Though the Dems’ U.N. cohort took us low, it required the
expertise of the Clintonoids to take us lower still. Lil’ Billy and
his boys were yukking it up when they heard ol’ Sandy Bergler was
under investigation for taking classified information out of the
National Archives.
And not just any old classified stuff: “code word”-level
classified documents. As in Top Secret, Sensitive Compartmented
Information, above which there ain’t no higher level of
classification. Just how highly classified is “code word”? Code
words cover “black” programs ranging from covert operations to
weapons systems to assessments of our defenses against terrorism.
For example, do you know what “Have Blue” was?
“Have Blue” was the code word name assigned to what we now know
is the F-117A Stealth fighter-bomber. Because it was a code word
program, only a few people in the Air Force, CIA, the White House
and Congress even knew it existed, though it involved an enormous
research and engineering effort, expending many millions of
dollars. It was one of the greatest technological leaps of our age,
and it remained classified at the highest levels for years.
What former National Security Advisor Berger took, according to
his own admission, were code word-classified drafts of an “after
action” report drafted in 2000 on the Millennium bomb plot, a
terrorist plan that included an attack on Los Angeles airport which
was stopped only because a lady border guard had her brain engaged,
and got lucky searching a car. Berger — supposedly looking over
documents to be sent to the 9/11 Commission — took several drafts
of this report home “inadvertently” on more than one occasion. He
also took notes he made about the documents, which — automatically
and by law — would have been classified at the same level as the
documents from which they were made. He did this without telling
the Archives staff who caught him at it and called in the Feebies.
Berger now says he “lost” some of the documents.
What Berger did is a serious felony, for which people spend
decades in Club Fed. I have had security clearances at the code
word level. Yes, it’s possible to become relaxed about the presence
of such documents and the aspects of them that are recorded by your
mind. But the enormity of the responsibility that comes with such
knowledge is not something any sane person can forget.
It’s just not possible for Berger to have taken the documents or
notes accidentally, and without knowing he was breaking the law.
Keeping them in his home is a separate violation, and losing (or
destroying them) would be a third. Now, the Dems are whining that
the investigation — which began months ago, regarding events that
took place in 2003 — was leaked now for some political motive.
Yes, that’s their response. Not one word of criticism for this
major breach of security, about which they still don’t give a damn.
If Republicans had timed the leak they would have ensured it came
to light during the Dem convention, when Berger — a key adviser to
Kerry, not an “informal” adviser in the Kerry camp’s post-facto
spin — would have been displayed as part of Kerry’s team. It’s
perfectly disgusting to watch the Dems’ performance, preemptively
pooh-poohing the idea that Berger did anything wrong. Just why did
Berger take the drafts of the Millennium bomb plot after action
report? Was it to cover Clinton’s tracks or to help Kerry’s
campaign or both?
In his testimony to the 9/11 Commission, Attorney General John
Ashcroft said, “The NSC’s Millennium After-Action Review declares
that the United States barely missed major terrorist attacks in
1999 — with luck playing a major role.” The after action report
warned the Clinton administration “of a substantial al-Qaeda
network and affiliated foreign terrorist presence within the U.S.,
capable of supporting additional terrorist attacks here,” Ashcroft
said. “Furthermore, fully seventeen months before the September 11
attacks, the review recommends disrupting the al-Qaeda network and
terrorist presence here using immigration violations, minor
criminal infractions, and tougher visa and border controls,” he
explained.
According to an intelligence community source, it really may not
matter that Berger took what may have been unique drafts of the
after-action report because the final report is enough to forever
damn the Clinton administration for its failures to act. The report
apparently details a number of recommended actions — much more
than Ashcroft testified to — that should have been taken to reduce
America’s vulnerability to terrorist attack. The Clinton
administration ignored the recommendations, leaving holes in our
nation’s security that made us much more vulnerable to terrorist
attack than we should have been.
Though it would be better if it were, the matter isn’t likely to
be cleared up by simply declassifying the report, and letting us
know precisely what the Clinton administration could have done —
and didn’t — to protect us. My source said that the
recommendations are still classified at the code-word level. Maybe
some of them can be declassified, but it’s very likely that none
will be.
If we can, let’s get it out in the open once and for all. The
facts are what they are, and we’re all stuck with them. Even the
Slick One himself; and his little lady. Meanwhile, Sandy Berger’s
security clearance must be suspended immediately and all classified
materials in his possession recovered from him while the
investigation proceeds. There is — by Berger’s admission — an
enormous breach of security. For this, regardless of his
motivation, he should be punished to the full extent of the law and
never again trusted with our nation’s secrets.
TAS Contributing Editor Jed Babbin is the author
of Inside the Asylum: Why the U.N. and Old Europe Are Worse
Than You Think (Regnery Publishing).
