Berger incident led to Archives cameras

WASHINGTON — Officials at the National Archives were so concerned about Sandy Berger's removal of classified documents last year that they imposed new security measures governing the review of sensitive material, including the installation of full-time surveillance cameras, government officials said Friday.

The new policy, issued March 31 to security officers at the archives, lays out toughened steps for safeguarding research rooms used by nongovernmental employees who are given special access to classified material. And it demands "continuous monitoring" of anyone reviewing such material.

The restrictions were put in place as a direct result of the Berger episode, said a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding the ongoing investigation.

Berger, the national security adviser to President Bill Clinton, has acknowledged that he took a number of copies of classified documents from a secure reading room last year when preparing for testimony before the Sept. 11 commission. He said the removal was a careless mistake, but leading Republicans have accused him of stashing documents in his clothing intentionally, perhaps as a way of hiding information that could be considered damaging to the Clinton administration.

The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation to determine whether federal laws on the handling of classified material may have been broken, and the disclosure of the investigation this week forced Berger to step down as a senior foreign policy adviser to Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign. Democrats have accused the Bush administration of leaking word of the investigation and exaggerating its importance to distract attention from this week's final report of the Sept. 11 commission.

After the issue first flared on Tuesday, Berger told reporters that he had made "an honest mistake" and that he deeply regretted it.

He has maintained a low profile since then, even as the political furor over the case has grown.

National Archives officials have reached no judgments on Berger's motives in removing the documents, and one law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity said, "We don't know what he was thinking when he did it."

Nonetheless, officials at the National Archives viewed the episode as troubling enough that they reviewed their security procedures and issued new guidelines for dealing with nongovernmental researchers like Berger and issued the new guidelines in March.