Posted on 10/06/2005 7:08:55 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - FBI agents examined computers in Vice President Dick Cheney's office and talked to former and current White House aides Thursday as they investigated an FBI intelligence analyst accused of passing classified information to Filipino officials.
Meantime, former Philippine President Joseph Estrada acknowledged receiving an internal U.S. government report on the Philippines from the analyst, Leandro Aragoncillo, but played down the importance of the information, comparing it to material aired in his country's media.
The FBI is looking at whether Aragoncillo, a former Marine, took classified information about the Philippines from the White House when he worked for Vice Presidents Al Gore and Cheney from 1999 to 2002.
The type of information has not been disclosed. Though Aragoncillo had top-secret clearance, that status would not have made him privy to highly sensitive intelligence.
Aragoncillo, a U.S. citizen originally from the Philippines, was charged last month with providing classified information from his FBI posting at Fort Monmouth, N.J., to former and current Philippine officials who oppose President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Philippine Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales said the criminal complaint against Aragoncillo suggests the information could have been intended to destabilize the Philippine government.
Michael Ray Aquino, a former top Philippine police official who acted as Aragoncillo's alleged go-between, was indicted by a Newark, N.J., federal grand jury Thursday on charges of conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign agent. Aragoncillo, 46, of Woodbury, N.J., and Aquino, 39, living in Queens, N.Y., have been jailed since their arrests last month.
Federal prosecutors in Newark did not seek an indictment against Aragoncillo because he is negotiating a plea, court records show.
Aquino lawyer Mark A. Berman said his client rejected a plea deal.
"There's a fundamental difference between Aragoncillo and Aquino," Berman said. "Aquino is not an FBI agent and had no reason to know that the information the government laid out in the indictment was classified."
While the criminal complaint is limited to Aragoncillo's time at Fort Monmouth the investigation has widened to include his stint, while a Marine, in the vice president's office. Agents examined computers and interviewed current and former vice presidential aides Thursday, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
FBI spokesman Rich Kolko would not confirm details of the investigation, but he said, "In the course of a logical investigation, the FBI will research the subject's entire career for whenever he had access to classified or sensitive information to see whether any illegal or improper activity took place."
Meantime, Estrada told The Washington Post that he received a three-page internal U.S. analysis of political developments in his country from Aragoncillo. He did not remember the date, but said he received the document when Aragoncillo came to see him sometime after his January 2001 ouster.
"This document was about the graft and corruption happening in the country. It's nothing new," Estrada said.
Estrada called Aragoncillo a friend and said he first met him during a visit to the White House late in President Clinton's second term when the former Marine was working on Gore's security detail.
Estrada also said he had a close relationship with Aquino but said they had not been in contact in recent years and that
Estrada told the Philippine Daily Inquirer last month he had received e-mails from Arangoncillo. Estrada, who was toppled in massive street protests in 2001 on charges of corruption and is under house arrests while on trial, also told the newspaper that Arangocillo visited him in detention and passed on documents on the Philippine situation.
The transfers apparently occurred between mid-2001 and 2003, Inquirer quoted Estrada as saying. He did not elaborate.
A Philippine opposition senator has acknowledged receiving information from Aquino. Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former national police chief under whom Aquino served, said he and "many others" received information passed by Aquino, but he played down the value of the reports, describing them as "shallow information."
White House and Justice Department officials declined to comment on the investigation.
Rep. Adam Schiff (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., a former federal prosecutor who handled an FBI spy case, said the Aragoncillo case raises questions about easy access to classified materials and how long the naturalized U.S. citizen was able to pass on sensitive information before he was stopped.
"If the complaint is accurate, there is a wealth of evidence which makes it all the more surprising he went undiscovered as long as he did, because it was not a very sophisticated operation," Schiff said.
Aragoncillo was hired to work at Fort Monmouth in July 2004 and began sending classified information and documents in January, often via e-mail, according to an FBI complaint made public last month. The documents' contents have not been made public.
From May to Aug. 15 of this year, he printed or downloaded 101 classified documents relating to the Philippines, of which 37 were classified "secret," according to the criminal complaint.
He sent some of the material to Aquino, the complaint said.
Aragoncillo's public defender, Chester M. Keller, declined to say if his client was cooperating with investigators. "It's just too sensitive right now," Keller said.
If I know Dick, he probably left some quickly written plans for nuking Iran on there for the libs to discover...and then at the end typed "woops...just kidding."
Cheney is my hero...ever since sugesting Leahey engage in a anatomically impossible act
I guess you need tip-top secret for that, huh.
In this undated handout television image from ABC News, Leandro Aragoncillo is shown. The FBI is investigating whether Aragoncillo, a former Marine, took classified information from the White House when he worked in the vice president's office and passed it to Filipino officials, U.S. government officials said Wednesday. (AP Photo/ABC News)
Let me assure you that we here at the AP do not use misleading titles to our stories.
Is it time to start "profiling" people who work in the White House?
We'll find out what was leaked as soon as we find out what sandy burglar stole/destroyed.
To quote Jim Traficant.
"The FBI and CIA are so stupid they could throw themselves at the ground and miss"
What's Dick run for an Operating System?
Windows VP ?
Why is the FBI wasting time on this, they should be checking for who leaked Valerie's name. That is the real danger to our country, not this silly little spy stuff.
Hey, maybe this guy leaked Valerie's name!!!
Democrat criminals are off limits for Bush prosecutors. New Tone, doncha know?
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