(Washington, DC)  Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates corruption in government, said today that it has filed a formal bar complaint against Samuel “Sandy” Berger, Bill Clinton’s former National Security Advisor, with the Office of Bar Counsel for the District of Columbia Bar.  Mr. Berger plead guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on April 1 to stealing classified material from the National Archives, destroying three of the five stolen documents, and lying to federal investigators.

The Rules of Professional Conduct for an attorney in the District of Columbia prohibit a lawyer from committing a criminal act that reflects adversely on trustworthiness; engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, deceit or misrepresentation; and acting in a manner that seriously interferes with the administration of justice. 

The stolen documents were copies of highly secret memorandum (possibly with handwritten notes) that were allegedly critical of the Clinton administration’s response to the “Millennium 2000” terror plot to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport. 

Berger, who was an advisor to the Kerry campaign when the scandal broke, has held multiple national security jobs since the Carter administration and was recently a foreign policy advisor to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.  He initially said that he took copies of the classified documents regarding terrorism from the National Archives by “accident” and then misplaced them in what Berger described as an "honest mistake."  Berger later admitted, however, that after pilfering the documents, he destroyed three of the five with scissors at the office of his consulting firm.

Berger is scheduled to be sentenced on July 8, 2005 and is expected to be fined $10,000 and suffer a temporary loss of his security clearance.  However, the deal reportedly allows Berger to reapply for his clearance before the change in administrations in 2008. 

“We hope that the Bar Counsel will enforce standards better than the Department of Justice enforces national security laws,” said JW President Tom Fitton.  “By his own admission, Berger violated the Rules of Professional Conduct for an attorney in the District of Columbia.  Judicial Watch urges the Office of Bar Counsel to promptly investigate Berger and revoke his license.”

To view a copy of the complaint, click here (Adobe Acrobat Reader required).