Berger Pleads Guilty to Reckless Driving

FAIRFAX, Va. – Former national security adviser Sandy Berger pleaded guilty Tuesday to reckless driving after an officer clocked him at 88 mph in a 55-mph zone. A judge fined him $250.

Berger did not speak during his brief appearance before Judge Richard Horan in Fairfax County General District Court. His lawyer entered the guilty plea on his behalf.

Berger, who served as national security adviser under President Clinton, was ticketed Sept. 10 while heading east on Interstate 66, a major highway into Washington. Berger was required to report the ticket to the probation office of U.S. District Court because he is on two years' probation for smuggling classified documents out of the National Archives last year.

Berger admitted destroying some of the documents and then lying about it. He called his actions a lapse of judgment that came while he was preparing to testify before the Sept. 11 commission last year. The documents he took contained information on terror threats in the United States during the 2000 millennium celebration.

In addition to probation in that case, Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson fined Berger $50,000 and sentenced him to 100 hours of community service. She later admonished Berger for violating probation by getting ticketed for reckless driving, but did not punish him further.

The misdemeanor reckless driving charge carried a maximum penalty of 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.