Hill set to probe Berger's actions

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Congress soon will begin an investigation into how and why a former foreign-policy adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry illegally removed or lost several top-secret anti-terror documents from the National Archives.

House Government Reform Committee Chairman Thomas M. Davis III, Virginia Republican, yesterday called the actions of Samuel R. Berger "a disturbing breach of trust and protocol."

"At best, we're looking at tremendously irresponsible handling of highly classified information," Mr. Davis said. "At worst, his actions suggest an intentional effort to keep critical information away from the [September 11 commission] and the American public."

Mr. Berger, who was President Clinton's national security adviser, resigned Tuesday as an adviser to Mr. Kerry. He admitted removing documents with the government's highest classified rating from the National Archives to help prepare for his testimony before the commission investigating the September 11 attacks.

Mr. Berger became the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department in January, several weeks after staffers at the archives saw him stuffing classified notes into his pants and noticed that several top-secret documents were missing.

Law-enforcement sources told CNN and Fox News yesterday that Mr. Berger was seen putting documents into his socks before leaving the secure room.

Mr. Berger has characterized his taking of the documents, some of which he said he "inadvertently" threw away, as an "innocent mistake."

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican, was more skeptical.

"How could President Clinton's former national security adviser be so cavalier?" Mr. Hastert asked. "Was Mr. Berger trying to cover up key facts regarding intelligence failures during his watch? What happened to those missing documents? Whose hands did they fall into? What kind of security risk does that pose to Americans today?"

The Bush-Cheney re-election team is demanding that Mr. Kerry prove that he did not use the top-secret documents to help his campaign.