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Polygraph for Sandy Berger to be studied 
Ex-national security adviser caught smuggling documents from Archives

A spokesman for President Bush says a demand by Republicans for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to follow through on former White House insider Sandy Berger's promise to take a polygraph test regarding the classified documents he took from the National Archives will be studied.

The response from Tony Snow came on a question from Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House.

"Congressman Tom Davis and 17 other Republican House members have called on Attorney General Gonzales, Department of Justice, to administer the polygraph test that Sandy Berger agreed to in paragraph 11 of his plea agreement. And my question, could you give us a substantial answer to these Republicans' request of the Bush administration?" Kinsolving asked.

"No. But I will study it," Snow said.

It was in spring of 2002 and the fall of 2003 that Berger, former President Clinton's National Security Adviser, visited the National Archives to review classified documents to prepare for being interviewed by the 9/11 Commission.

He took some documents and disposed of them, and later pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his actions. As part of his plea agreement to resolve those charges, he agreed to take a polygraph test about the circumstances.

"Berger's actions portray a disturbing breach of trust and protocol that compromised the nation's national security," said a statement from the Republicans on the House Oversight Committee.

WND has reported that Clinton signed the letter authorizing Berger's access to the classified documents that later came up missing.

Berger pleaded guilty in April 2005 to one misdemeanor count of removing a classified document and was given two years probation, 100 hours of community service, a $50,000 fine and revocation of his security clearance for three years.

A second question from Kinsolving also failed to generate an answer.

"At a press conference, Senate Majority Leader Reid, when asked about the vice president's announcement that he changed his position on Iraq three times in five months, responded, 'I am not going to get into a name-calling match with someone who has a 9 percent approval rating.' And my question, what is the president's reaction to this, and does he believe that the vice president's rating is really lower than the now Democrat-controlled Congress?" he asked.

"I don't think the president – president doesn't have a comment on either of those formulations," he said.