US: Former US president Bill Clinton's national security adviser, Mr Sandy Berger, is the focus of a criminal investigation for removing highly classified terrorism documents from the National Archives last autumn.
A lawyer for Mr Berger said that while preparing hundreds of documents for testimony to the 9/11 commission hearings, the former White House official inadvertently removed several secret papers.
These included an after-action report on the Clinton administration's counter-terrorism efforts before the 2000 millennium celebrations. Mr Berger also knowingly took with him handwritten notes in violation of National archives policy, the lawyer, Mr Lanny Bruer said.
Mr Berger's home and office were searched earlier this year by FBI agents with warrants after National Archive staff said they had seen Mr Berger stuff documents into his jacket and pants pockets, federal officials said.
Mr Berger handed over his notes but said he believed he may have mistakenly thrown out two or three copies of the 15-20 page secret report of the handling of al-Qaeda terror threats in 1999. An FBI official told the Wall Street Journal that two copies were still missing.
All the original documents and reports are still on file and no action has been taken against Mr Burger, though a US prosecutor is still reviewing the case to see if any laws were broken.
The leak of the investigation will have a negative effect on the Democratic presidential campaign where Mr Berger is an informal foreign policy adviser. It could also distract from the findings of the bipartisan 9/11 commission which will be issued tomorrow and are expected to be highly critical of the Bush administration.
Mr Berger stated he inadvertently took copies of actual classified documents in a leather portfolio.
"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," he said.
A US Justice Department official said the after-action report was critical of the counter-terrorism efforts in the run up to the millennium.