Marine Caught Spying In White House

If true, this is doubly distressing news. Not only has this man betrayed his country, he has brought dishonor to the Marine Corps.

From ABC News:

Oct. 5, 2005 — Both the FBI and CIA are calling it the first case of espionage in the White House in modern history.

Officials tell ABC News the 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.

Federal investigators say Aragoncillo, a naturalized citizen from the Philippines, used his top secret clearance to steal classified intelligence documents from White House computers.

In 2000, Aragoncillo worked on the staff of then-Vice President Al Gore. When interviewed by Philippine television, he remarked how valued Philippine employees were at the White House.

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.

Aragoncillo didn't stop his activity with the Clinton administration:

According to a criminal complaint, Aragoncillo was arrested last month and accused of downloading more than 100 classified documents from FBI computers.

Since that arrest, officials say Aragoncillo has started to cooperate. He has admitted to spying while working on the staff of Vice President Cheney's office.

Via Stop the ACLU from an email tip by reader John S.

Update: Michelle Malkin reports that a second man was arrested at the same time as Aragoncillo:

It's actually more widespread than the ABC News story indicates. There was another Filipino arrested with Aragoncillo last month--Michael Ray Aquino.