Posted on 05/06/2006 12:10:34 AM PDT by HAL9000
Aragoncillo admits spying for Arroyo foes
Estrada, Lacson named co-plotters vs President
NEWARK, New Jersey—A Filipino-American intelligence analyst admitted Thursday that for five years he passed top secret information gleaned from White House and Federal Bureau of Investigation computers to conspirators he said were trying to overthrow President Macapagal-Arroyo.
Leandro Aragoncillo, 47, a naturalized US citizen who was born in the Philippines, pleaded guilty to a four-count indictment.
The conspirators used code words to refer to various people, including calling Ms Arroyo "The Penguin," Aragoncillo admitted.
Aragoncillo, shackled at the feet and wearing green jail garb, himself did not identify them.
But according to documents filed in the US District Court in Newark, they included former President Joseph Estrada, opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson and former House Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella.
A justice department official said the supposed conspirators included another politician who served in the Philippine House of Representatives, and a mayor of a city near Manila.
San Juan Mayor JV Ejercito, son of the former President, has admitted receiving e-mails from Aragoncillo but said they did not deal with confidential matters.
Aragoncillo's public defender, Chester M. Keller, said his client never intended to harm the United States and never received any money for his efforts.
"It was his sole intention to help the people of the Philippines," Keller said.
Jail instead of death
The most serious charge, conspiracy to transmit national defense information, can carry the death penalty. But under a plea agreement, Aragoncillo faces 15 to 20 years in prison. Sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 14.
US Attorney Christopher J. Christie said outside court that the government did not seek the death penalty because no physical harm resulted from the leaked information.
However, Christie said: "It was information that had the potential to compromise US national security."
Aragoncillo, an ex-Marine and former FBI intelligence analyst, worked as a military aide to Vice Presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney starting in 1999. After retiring from the Marines, he became a civilian employee of the FBI, working at Fort Monmouth in central New Jersey.
Estrada denial
He was arrested in September, along with Michael Ray Aquino, a former Philippine police official who is accused of passing information from Aragoncillo about Filipino leaders to current and former political officials in the Philippines.
Estrada last week denied suggestions by US prosecutors that he conspired with Aragoncillo to overthrow Ms Arroyo.
Aquino, a Filipino living in New York, pleaded not guilty in October to an indictment charging him with conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign agent. His lawyer, Mark A. Berman, said Aquino did not know that the material he received from Aragoncillo was classified.
By e-mail, fax and phone
Under questioning by Assistant US Attorney Karl H. Buch, Aragoncillo admitted taking dozens of documents from White House and FBI computers and passing them by hand, e-mail, fax and telephone.
One question asked if he knew that a document he took in February 2005 from an FBI computer contained "national defense information relating to terrorist threats to US military personnel in the Philippines."
As with all the questions, Aragoncillo answered, "Yes, sir."
Meeting at Malacañang
He admitted in court to passing on documents classified as top secret, secret and confidential that included information relating to terrorist threats against US government interests and military personnel in the Philippines.
The US Department of Justice said Aragoncillo also admitted he met the alleged co-conspirators at the Malacañang Palace in January 2001.
Prosecutors called his guilty admission a "plea agreement" but refused to say if he would testify against co-defendant Aquino.
The case has caused a political scandal in the Philippines because the stolen documents allegedly were used by opponents of Ms Arroyo to try to oust her.
Four counts
Prosecutors named Estrada, Lacson and Fuentebella as unindicted co-conspirators in the plot.
Aragoncillo "took an oath to protect his country (as a Marine) and instead decided to betray his country," said Christie. "He took information that was very sensitive to our national security."
Aragoncillo pleaded guilty to four counts.
One charged him with conspiracy to transmit national defense information, the second with transmitting national defense information.
The third charge was unlawful retention of national defense information and the fourth unlawful use of a government computer.
Aragoncillo would face the death penalty if it was found the information he gave led to the death of an intelligence source. The justice department said that was "not present" in Aragoncillo's case.
A department statement said Aragoncillo admitted that his espionage activity continued during his time as an FBI analyst.
"Aragoncillo admitted that he regularly transferred to his Philippine contacts national security documents classified as 'Secret,' and that the information could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation," the statement said.
The information was allegedly leaked between October 2000 and February 2002.
"His betrayal is profound and a disservice to his country," Christie said.
The White House had no comment on the plea.
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