 Federal investigators say Leandro Aragoncillo, a naturalized citizen from the Philippines, used his top secret clearance to steal classified intelligence documents from White House computers. (ABC News) |
Both the FBI and the CIA are calling this “the first case of espionage in the White House in modern history.”
“[T]he alleged spy worked undetected at the White House for almost three years. Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, was a U.S. Marine most recently assigned to the staff of Vice President Dick Cheney. (ABC News via the DrudgeReport).
Former WH terrorism specialist Richard Clarke expressed astonishment:
More from ABC: “Federal investigators say Aragoncillo, a naturalized citizen from the Philippines, used his top secret clearance to steal classified intelligence documents from White House computers.”
Oddly enough, stories about the spying first appeared in Phillipine press back on Sept. 16, but only hit U.S. media yesterday and today.
Philippine News Online, which dubbed Aragoncillo “Agent Smart,” reports that “[t]he FBI last week said they uncovered the two ‘spies’, identified them as Leandro Aragoncillo, an FBI analyst, and Michael Ray Aquino, former police super in Manila now studying to be a nurse in New York. At least three espionage charges were filed against them for supposedly working in tandem to pass classified U.S. information to Philippine officials. “Agents of a foreign government,” is the phrase used in the criminal complaint filed Sept. 9 before Judge Patty Shwartz in New Jersey.” (Phillipine News, Oct. 5, 2005)
“Officials say the classified material, which Aragoncillo stole from the vice president’s office, included damaging dossiers on the president of the Philippines. He then passed those on to opposition politicians planning a coup in the Pacific nation, reports ABC. Aragoncillo, who began working for V.P. Gore in 2000, “has admitted to spying while working on the staff of Vice President Cheney’s office.”
Anybody predict that the wingers will howl that it’s all Gore’s fault, which really means Clintons fault? Man, just in time to deflect attention from Miers and the Plame and Delay indictments.
They can blame Clinton all they like but they kept him on so there’s no getting around that. I’ll bet they’re shaking in their boots over there wondering what other info this guy might have that he might be able to use to cut a deal.
Good point.
Hey, remember that whole… returning integrity and honor to the Office thing?
Hows that working out?
There’s a frog here in the pond who has this line as their sig line. I can’t remember who.
I’m missing something. My quick review of the sources tell me this guy was only in the White House post-2000. How is he linked to Clinton/Gore?
I watched the report on tv. It said he began as an aide to Gore in 99.
Great. You are so right. This Commie-Bastard got in with Gore. Poor, poor Republican adminstration has been prayed upon. Fuck, they can blame a whole lot on this dude.
But then I read this from ABC:
Three years = 2002. Totally Cheney/Bush
Here’s a link to another story:
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=16437
.
For breaking news story from Fitzgerald involving WH indictments on Thursday!?
Judith Miller
▼ ▼ ▼
I wasn’t aware of the direct Miller/Kelly connection.
Thanks for the info.
These are ruthless people; murderous sociopaths without the slightest regard for their fellow man.
maybe they’ll pin the whole Plame leak on this dude???
Old New Yorker cartoon: Pilots walking down the aisle of the plane with parachutes on saying: “Don’t be alarmed, everything is fine.”
that this occurs as everyone who follows the Plame story expects bigger Cheney operatives to get indicted, a narrative hard enough to keep straight without a knock-off on another network?
MSNBC hasn’t mentioned this once so far. I haven’t checked CNN, etc.
regarding this spy, but there is something about Larry Franklin pleading guilty for info given to an Israeli official (Franklin was a Pentagon Analyst, for the unrehearsed like me)
That’s another shady group too because Franklin, ( a scapegoat IMO) worked under Douglas Feith in the Pentagon. After Franklin was indicted, Feith resigned, or moved into a much less visible role. And weren’t they part of Cheney’s OSP (office of special plans) that was a big part of the intelligence cherrypicking effort in the runup to the war?
Franklin, his AIPAC conduits, and others such as Michael Ledeen, Harold Rhode, David Wurmser, etc., are linked to a very insidious group called P2, (Propaganda Due).
P2 was almost certainly the originator of the forged Niger documents claiming Saddam’s interest in yellowcake.
P2, the neocons like Cheney, and other radical right groups in Israel and within the US evangelical community all want major war in the MidEast region for the forseeable future, and this is where these groups otherwise divergent interests coincide. But alliances between lunatic psychopaths like these can’t hold up forlong. Eventually they start to first betray, and then kill off each other as the get ever closer to the ultimate power they crave.
In the meantime, however, they will ruthlessly destroy anyone who might impede their insane agenda.
Very curious array of friends and associates of the VP. Chalabi, Franklin and his AIPAC fellow spies, these 2 Phillipino guys.
Do we know who Cheney himself is really working for?
Not us, thats pretty clear. Just like Chalabi, who it turns out was in tight with Iran. Oh the tangled webs we weave, when first we practice to decieve.
Definitely not working for the best interests of the USA.
The dream of empire has afflicted ambitious maniacs like Cheney and his pals since the dawn of man. Their delusional, narcissistic pathology prevents them from serving the interests of anyone but themselves. This is one trait all tyrants share, and Cheney is no exception.
You guys are just joking, right?
Cheney?
He works almost exclusively for Haliburton.
Well, they had Jeff Gannon who wasn’t really a Marine, who was usually in breeches, as far as we know anyway, who breached the usual safeguards against White House access and passed information to gawd-knows-Hughes so whats another breach in the levee?
My tiny brain is thinking what else will break today, but what do I know.
I don’t know who the players are, but someone very big is moving behind the scenes. Someone who has had enough of the Bush/Cheney incompetence.
There is no way to put a happy face on an administration penetrated by foreign spies. Even though the Clinton stuff shows they are trying.
From our own point of view, this is all much to late, and, no, the republic will not be restored. But it does start to look like the current crop of jackals is going down.
For some reason, I find this to be a big story. The fact that the White House vetting software is inferior to that of Bangladesh is shocking. Spying for three years in Cheney’s office!
Maybe I just love spy stories but I found this news to be tons more interesting than the rah rah speech of GWB playing his ace card and his only card: “Ah’m tough on terra.” He is becoming a parady of himself.