Government mistakenly gives classified documents to suspected Sept. 11 conspirator

Friday, September 27th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) _ Even though Zacarias Moussaoui is barred from receiving classified documents, the man indicted as a Sept. 11 accomplice inadvertently received a treasure trove of them, according to court documents.

The government scoured Moussaoui's cell to locate the classified FBI interview reports, which were mixed in with similar but unclassified documents. Eventually, all the FBI reports in Moussaoui's possession were seized so the government could find the classified documents.

For his part, Moussaoui chastised the government with a ``Motion to Expulse the United States from the Arabian Discovery Cave.''

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema on Thursday released all the correspondence, pleadings and court orders related to the affair. She granted a motion by Moussaoui's court-appointed lawyers, who argued the government sought to hide the documents solely to avoid embarrassment.

In a letter to prosecutors soon after the mistake was discovered, the judge suggested the government should not make a big deal out of the error.

``You may find in the final analysis that less harm will be done by not drawing the defendant's attention to these documents,'' the judge wrote on Aug. 23.

At the time, however, the government had identified only two classified documents in Moussaoui's possession. Prosecutors later said there were seven and eventually settled on 48.

U.S. Marshals who originally searched the cell in the Alexandria Detention Center reported they couldn't locate all the records.

``Despite their hard work and valiant effort, the Marshals Service could not find two of the seven documents. Unfortunately, one of the remaining two documents is the most critical of the seven,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Spencer wrote.

On Sept. 5, Spencer wrote that the documents ``are the property of the United States and the court has authority to order that the property be returned to the United States.''

In a separate letter the same day Spencer wrote, ``The defendant now has access to national security information. ... The access to this material by the defendant is a situation that, even if of our own making, is improper and unacceptable. Simply put, it is illegal and dangerous for the defendant to possess the material, and there must be some way that we can correct the situation.''

Moussaoui, who is representing himself, has access to thousands of non-classified documents. The court-appointed lawyers who assist him are cleared to receive the secret records.

The French citizen, 34, goes on trial Jan. 6 on charges of conspiring with the Sept. 11 hijackers to commit terrorism. The Justice Department said it would seek the death penalty if he is convicted.