Pantsgate, Con’t

James Joyner: “So, he accidentally took documents more than once, and only after a pattern emerged did the staffers report him.”
Sandy Berger was National Security Advisor. What the hell was going on?
Update – Glenn Reynolds has extensive followup this morning., and on the further collapse of Joe Wilson’s credibility.
This email he recieved is enlightening:

Just to back up some of your other correspondents. I spent 27 years total in the AF – with a Top Secret clearance. I had at times, specific appended code word clearances, which are controlled on a strict need-to-know basis – because they often involve sensitive sources (say, you are getting data from a mole in the Itanian Gov. – that particular data would be graded TS and then given a code word to further identify it as very sensitive and to restrict access from those with just general TS clearances). In a nutshell, the security system from least classified to most classified was: Confidential, Secret, Top Secret, Top Secret codeword). When we worked on Top Secret codeword (it might read something like Top Secret Fishhook), it was in a vault and our notes were put in burn bags. We were not allowed to take any notes out -period. We clearly understood that you didn’t screw around with Secret, much less TS or TS codeword. For us a slip-up meant the slammer. What Berger did is so far removed from accepted security procedure, that I can only see two possible explanations: dishonesty with an ulterior motive (political CYA, I would guess) Or he’s crazy. There is no way a veteran in the security business doesn’t understand the gravity of walking out with TS codeword data.
Doug Rivers
USAF Ret.

7 Replies to “Pantsgate, Con’t”

  1. Ah yes, but when reported as “Pantsgate” in the UK, it seem much more appropriate for a Clinton staffer…

  2. And when they decided that Berger should be reported, they contacted Bruce Lindsey.
    And just who is Bruce Lindsey? Ha, Clinton’s deputy White House counsel.
    What pray tell does/did Clinton know and when did he fail to recall it?

  3. Hey, you name your subject lines, I’ll name mine. And Pantsgate it will be. Unless I get further information that updates it to Boxershortsgate.

  4. This is probably a good thing for Kerry. Who needs a campaign advisor while on whose watch Al-Queda grew into the malignancy it became as an “informal security advisor?” According to “Dereliction of Duty,” Berger wasn’t impressive enough to Clinton to tear good ole Bubba away from his golf game to whack Osama when he had the chance. AND who was stupid enough to take classified documents out of a secured area thinking he wouldn’t be caught. An innocent mistake?? Come on, I stuff papers down my pants all the time – especially in the FRONT!!! What an idiot. Could be a blessing in disguise for Kerry

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