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Sandy Berger dead at age 70

by Jordan Fabian

Sandy Berger, who served as President Bill Clinton’s national security adviser, has died, his firm said Wednesday.

{mosads}The Albright Stonebridge Group, a Washington-based strategic advisory group Berger co-founded, said he died in the early morning after battling cancer. Berger was 70 years old.

Influential foreign policy and political figures on Wednesday morning mourned Berger’s passing.

“Our country is stronger because of Sandy’s deep and abiding commitment to public service, and there are countless people whose lives he changed for the better. I am certainly one of them,” Berger’s colleague, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said in a statement.

“He was one of my dearest friends and among the wisest people I have ever met,” she added. “I will always treasure our decades-long partnership, both in and out of government, and I will be forever proud of what we accomplished together.” 

President Obama called Berger “one of our nation’s foremost national security leaders” who “devoted himself to strengthening American leadership in an uncertain world.”
 
“I’m grateful to Sandy because, as president, I’ve benefited personally from his advice and counsel,” he said in a statement.  

“V sad start to day; just learned Sandy Berger passed away during the night. Good man & friend who served nation well as bill clinton’s NSA,” tweeted Richard Haas, president of the Council on Foreign Relations.

“So sad to learn of the passing of my friend Sandy Berger. He served our country well. Patriot, humanitarian, American. RIP,” tweeted former Clinton adviser Paul Begala.

Berger became Clinton’s national security adviser in 1997, during the former president’s second term, spearheading the response to attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and advising Clinton during the Balkan wars. He also pushed Clinton to back free-trade deals. 
 
Before that, he served as a deputy on the National Security Council staff and worked on Clinton’s 1992 campaign.

The New York native remained active in foreign policy circles after Clinton left the White House. The World Food Program awarded its Global Humanitarian Award to Berger on Tuesday.

“On behalf of WFP USA, Sandy has been our principal voice in advocating that the U.S. and the world respond effectively to the greatest humanitarian challenge of our generation,” Rick Leach, president and CEO of World Food Program USA, said in a statement.

But Berger’s career was also marred by controversy.

In 1997, he paid a $23,000 penalty to settle a conflict of interest case for not selling his stocks in the Amoco Corporation on order from White House lawyers.

Berger also pleaded guilty in 2005 to a misdemeanor charge for taking classified documents out of the National Archives and intentionally destroying them. The documents discussed terror plots against the U.S. during the Clinton administration.

Berger was sentenced to community service and probation and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine.

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