Samuel Richard "Sandy" Berger (October 28, 1945 – December 2, 2015) was a Democratic attorney who served as the 18th US National Security Advisor for U.S. President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001 after he had served as the Deputy National Security Advisor for the Clinton administration from 1993 to 1997.
In 2005, he was fined and sentenced to two years of probation, plus community service, for the unauthorized removal of classified material from the National Archives. When disbarment proceedings were initiated on account of his theft of documents, Berger gave up his license to practice law by conceding the truth of the material allegations of misconduct and consenting to his disbarment.
Berger was born to a Jewish family in Millerton, New York, where his parents ran a surplus store. He graduated from Webutuck High School in 1963, earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in government from Cornell University in 1967, and his earned Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School in 1971.
At Cornell, Berger was a member of the Quill and Dagger society with Paul Wolfowitz and Stephen Hadley. Opposed to the Vietnam War, Berger began working for Senator George McGovern's presidential campaign in 1972. While there, he met Bill Clinton, forming a friendship that lasted for decades. Berger later urged Clinton to run for President of the United States.
After the McGovern campaign, Berger gained experience working in a variety of government posts, including serving as Special Assistant to Mayor of New York City John Lindsay and Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Harold Hughes of Iowa and Congressman Joseph Resnick of New York. He was also Deputy Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. Department of State from 1977 to 1980 under Secretary of State Cyrus Vance during the Carter administration.
After leaving the State Department, Berger went on to join the law firm Hogan & Hartson where he helped expand the firm's international law practice. As a partner, he opened the firm's first two international offices, in London and Brussels. "Sandy Berger", Nancy Pelosi said in 1997, "was the point-man at ... Hogan & Hartson ... for the trade office of the Chinese government. He was a lawyer-lobbyist."
Berger served as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to Governor Clinton during the campaign, and as Assistant Transition Director for National Security of the 1992 Clinton-Gore Transition. Berger served eight years on the National Security Council staff, first from 1993 to 1997 as deputy national security advisor, under Anthony Lake, whom Berger had recommended for the role, and then succeeding Lake as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs from 1997 to 2001.
Berger was a central figure in formulating the foreign policy of the Clinton Administration, and played an integral role advancing the administration's self-described objectives of advancing "democracy, shared prosperity, and peace." In President Clinton's words, "Nobody was more knowledgeable about policy or smarter about how to formulate it. He was both great in analyzing a situation and figuring out what to do about it. His gifts proved invaluable time and time again, in Latin America, the Balkans, Northern Ireland, and the Middle East."
Key achievements during Berger's NSC tenure included the 1995 peso recovery package in Mexico, NATO enlargement, Operation Desert Fox, the Dayton Accords that ended the civil conflict in Bosnia, the NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, the Good Friday Agreement that helped bring about peace in Northern Ireland, and the administration's policy of engagement with the People's Republic of China. In a March 2005 oral history interview at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, Berger noted, "I think during the '90s we took China from outside the international system and brought it inside the international system, partly through trade, and economics, and otherwise."
On July 4, 1999, in what South Asia expert Bruce Reidel called Berger's "finest hour," Berger advised President Clinton through a pivotal negotiation with Pakistan's prime minister Nawaz Sharif to pull that country's troops back from Kashmir, averting a potentially cataclysmic nuclear war with India.
Berger also advised the President regarding the Khobar Towers bombing and responses to the terrorist bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In the final years of the Clinton administration, combating terrorism was the paramount foreign policy priority; Berger said in his March 2005 oral history interview at UVA's Miller Center, "I said to Condoleezza Rice during the transition ... that the number-one issue that she would deal with as national security advisor was terrorism in general and al-Qaeda specifically."
In November 1997, Berger paid a $23,000 civil penalty to settle conflict of interest allegations stemming from his failure to sell his stock of Amoco Corporation as ordered by the White House. Berger was advised by the White House to sell the stock in early 1994. He said he had planned to sell the stock, but then forgot. He denied knowingly participating in decisions in which he had a financial interest. With no evidence that Berger intended to break the law, the United States Department of Justice determined a civil penalty was adequate for a "non-willful violation" of the conflict of interest law.
In 1999, Berger was criticized for failing to promptly inform President Clinton of his knowledge that the People's Republic of China had managed to acquire the designs of a number of U.S. nuclear warheads. Berger was originally briefed of the espionage by the Department of Energy (DOE) in April 1996, but did not inform the president until July 1997.
A number of Republicans, including then presidential hopeful Lamar Alexander, called for Berger's resignation. They accused him of ignoring the allegations of Chinese espionage. "For his unwillingness to act on this serious matter, Mr. Berger should resign", Alexander said. "If he does not, he should be relieved of his duties by President Clinton." President Clinton rejected the calls: "The record is that we acted aggressively," Clinton said. "Mr. Berger acted appropriately."
I asked DOE to widen and deepen its investigation, to intensify as they were planning their counterintelligence efforts to brief the Congress. Within several weeks the FBI had opened up a full investigation on the prime suspect. So I took the actions that I believe were appropriate. I get an awful lot of threat information every day. I have to make a judgment as to what I brief the president on and what I don't. In 1997, when this was clearly a pattern and a systemic problem, I thought it was essential for the president to know — Sandy Berger, May 29, 1999.
Unauthorized removal and destruction of classified material
On July 19, 2004, it was revealed that the United States Department of Justice was investigating Berger for unauthorized removal of classified documents in October 2003 from a National Archives reading room prior to testifying before the 9/11 Commission. The documents were five classified copies of a single report commissioned from Richard Clarke covering internal assessments of the Clinton Administration's handling of the unsuccessful 2000 millennium attack plots. An associate of Berger said Berger took one copy in September 2003 and four copies in October 2003, allegedly by stuffing the documents into his socks and pants. Berger subsequently lied to investigators when questioned about the removal of the documents.
In April 2005, Berger pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material from the National Archives in Washington, D.C.