Even though I quoted the man recently, I never thought I'd need to concern myself about the contents of Sandy Berger's pants! But this story is hard to ignore:

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, is the focus of a Justice Department investigation after removing highly classified terrorism documents and handwritten notes from a secure reading room during preparations for the Sept. 11 commission hearings, The Associated Press has learned.

Berger's home and office were searched earlier this year by FBI agents armed with warrants after he voluntarily returned documents to the National Archives. However, still missing are some drafts of a sensitive after-action report on the Clinton administration's handling of al-Qaida terror threats during the December 1999 millennium celebration.

Berger and his lawyer said Monday night he knowingly removed handwritten notes he had made while reading classified anti-terror documents at the archives by sticking them in his jacket and pants. He also inadvertently took copies of actual classified documents in a leather portfolio, they said.

"I deeply regret the sloppiness involved, but I had no intention of withholding documents from the commission, and to the contrary, to my knowledge, every document requested by the commission from the Clinton administration was produced," Berger said in a statement to the AP.

Lanny Breuer, one of Berger's attorneys, said his client has offered to cooperate fully with the investigation but had not yet been interviewed by the FBI or prosecutors. Berger has been told he is the subject of the criminal investigation, Breuer said.

Via Glenn Reynolds, here's Ed Morrisey, who has a background in working with classified documents:

It's been well over a decade since I worked on such material, but I can tell you the rules even now. It's not just the document itself nor the data that's classified -- it's both, together and separately. If you jot down classified information in the form of notes, they're just as classified as the source material, and even in case of any doubt, you have to treat them as the same classification level until the proper authority can review them. What's more, as a former NSA, Sandy Berger damned well knows this. You cannot take notes from a classified document and just walk out with them in an unsecured and unapproved manner -- and since Berger stuffed them down his pants, I suspect he is well aware of this.

Remember, the Democrats had American national security in this man's hands (and his pants, apparently) for eight years, and Kerry promises more of the same. Chilling, isn't it?

This is reflected in comments by Berger friend and colleague David Gergen:

David Gergen, who was an adviser to Clinton and worked with Berger for a time in the White House, said Tuesday, "I think it's more innocent than it looks."

Appearing on NBC's "Today" show, Gergen said, "I have known Sandy Berger for a long time. He would never do anything to compromise the security of the United States." (Via Glenn Reynolds.)

(I guess such thinking can charitably called "good intentions....")

That we live in a constitutional republic not run by third world kleptocrats (who typically claim that what's best for them is best for the country) doesn't seem to have occurred to him.

But I don't wanna be too hard on the man; perhaps he's been hanging out with the wrong crowd....

No prison time! (But I think it's fair to get into the documents' chain of custody, and maybe take a look at Berger's meetings and phone logs, etc.....)

And in Berger's defense, though, I will say that he may be a prisoner of his own history, repeating a strategy that worked before:

When Clinton made his numbingly long-winded address to the 1988 Democratic National Convention, Berger was there, assuring him that it was not a career-killing disaster.

Throughout the 1992 campaign, he served as foreign policy adviser to Clinton. Berger's goal then, as recalled by campaign veterans, was to make sure the Arkansas governor at least did not get humiliated on foreign policy issues by the more experienced George Bush.

This dependent relationship created an unusual bond. "Sandy provided a comfort level on a subject on which the president was manifestly uncomfortable," said one White House aide.

Clinton's National Security Advisor Sandy Berger stated in the Washington Times in 1998: "Other products [besides VX gas] were made at Al Shifa. But we have seen such dual--use plants before -- in Iraq. And, indeed, we have information that Iraq has assisted in chemical- weapons activity in Sudan." Now working in the Kerry camp, both Sandy Berger and Jamie Rubin defended the bombing of that plant by stating that Iraq was assisting al Qaeda make deadly VX gas.

Whether this is a tragedy or a comedy depends on your perspective. I've just never trusted people who want to apply to others rules from which they exempt themselves.

UPDATE: Virginia Postrel is also willing to give "Bumbling Berger" a break, but hates the hypocrisy involved. And Stephen Green (whose cool new blog design I love, by the way) really knows pants!

....[T]he former National Security Advisor to President Clinton stuffed classified information down his pants and walked (a bit oddly, I'd wager) to his car. So that I might not be labeled a partisan hack, let me first say something in Sandy's defense – at least he didn't also have a shredder down there. Because you just know that Fawn Hall could have destroyed top secret documents with a top-secret spy device hidden in her not-so-Top-Secret cotton thong.

And before we continue with this sad excuse for an essay, let us be thankful that I didn't use this segue to force you to picture Sandy Berger in a cotton thong.

Now then. The fact that Berger stole classified data doesn't bother me. The fact that he stuffed them down his pants doesn't bother me.

....What bothers me – and what should bother you – is that the man who was too concerned with the law to get Osama when he had the chance, was rather cavalier about the law when it came to shoving classified items down his 46-inch waistband.

Sandy Berger covered his ass, quite literally, with the papers which, just might, show how he inadvertently helped Osama bin Laden murder the asses of 3,000 of Berger's fellow Americans. (Via Glenn Reynolds.)

UPDATE: It appears that Berger still hasn't given back all the documents!

However, some drafts of a sensitive after-action report on the Clinton administration's handling of Al Qaeda terror threats during the December 1999 millennium celebration are still missing, officials and lawyers said. Officials said the missing documents also identified America's terror vulnerabilities at airports to seaports.