WASHINGTON, April 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Samuel R. Berger, national security adviser to former president Bill Clinton, pleaded guilty Friday to taking classified documents from the National Archives and destroying some of them.

    Berger acknowledged to US Magistrate Deborah Robinson that he intentionally removed copies of five classified documents and destroyed three of them. The material involved a classified assessment of terrorist threats in 2000.

    The misdemeanor charge carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison and up to a 100,000-dollar fine. Under a plea agreement Berger reached with prosecutors, however, he would serve no jail time and pay a 10,000-dollar fine. He would also give up his security clearance, or access to classified government materials, for three years.

    Berger was a senior policy adviser to Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, in last year's presidential campaign. But he quit the campaign abruptly in July after accusations surfaced that he had inappropriately removed classified material from a secure reading room at the National Archives.

    Berger reviewed the documents in his role as the Clinton administration's point man in providing material to the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. He initially insisted that he had removed the material inadvertently. Enditem