Ex-Cheney aide probed in Philippine spy case

By Dan Eggen and Alan Sipress
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is investigating whether a naturalized U.S. citizen from the Philippines stole classified documents while he worked in the office of Vice President Dick Cheney and provided the information to opposition politicians in Manila, Bush administration officials said Wednesday.

The possibility that Leandro Aragoncillo was passing the material while stationed as a U.S. Marine security official at the White House marks a dramatic expansion of the case against him and a former Philippines police official, Michael Ray Aquino. Both were arrested and charged in federal court in Newark last month with sending classified information obtained this year to the Philippines — more than two years after Aragoncillo left the White House and went to work as an FBI intelligence analyst.

Officials from the White House, Justice Department and FBI declined to comment late Wednesday, other than to confirm that Aragoncillo first went to work at the White House in 1999 when Al Gore was vice president. ABC News reported Wednesday night that Aragoncillo had admitted taking classified documents while he worked in Cheney’s office. Officials with the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office in Newark declined to comment on the report.

From another article there is no mention of the White House...


Aragoncillo was hired to work at Fort Monmouth in July 2004 and began sending classified information and documents in January, according to the FBI complaint.

Investigators found that from May to Aug. 15, Aragoncillo printed or downloaded 101 classified documents relating to the Philippines,of which 37 were classified "secret," the complaint said.

The probe by immigration authorities began after Aquino was arrested in March, accused of overstaying the tourist visa with which he entered the US in July 2001.

Aquino is supposed to be the seasoned operative who "turned" Aragoncillo. If Aquino did not enter the US until well into Cheney's takeover of the Vice Presidency, then Al Gore's repeated mentions in the media are PURE WH SPIN.

and went to work for the FBI as an intelligence analyst.