 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.”