The FBI has arrested a U.S. Marine most recently assigned to Vice President Dick Cheney's staff, according to ABC News:
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.
"I don't know of a case where the vetting broke down before and resulted in a spy being in the White House," said Richard Clarke, a former White House advisor who is now an ABC News consultant.
Federal investigators say Aragoncillo, a naturalized citizen from the Philippines, used his top secret clearance to steal classified intelligence documents from White House computers.
This news could not have come at a worse time for a White House beleaguered by a host of scandals and political troubles. While the damage to U.S. national security is likely minimal and the involved nation, the Philippines, far from the notorious Axis of Evil in terms of a threat to strategic interests, the arrest will still likely be seen as a black eye to a notoriously tightly run and controlled White House.
It's ironic that the arrest was made public today as cracks in the historic unity of the Republican Party have also appeared over recent days with the nomination of White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the United States Supreme Court. A wide range of conservative thinkers and politicians, from George Will to former Supreme Court nominee Judge Robert Bork have expressed concern about Mier's qualifications and lack of an established legal and constitutional philosophy.
George Will takes the President to task for using "intellectually disreputable impulses":
Under the rubric of "diversity" — nowadays, the first refuge of intellectually disreputable impulses — the president announced, surely without fathoming the implications, his belief in identity politics and its tawdry corollary, the idea of categorical representation. Identity politics holds that one's essential attributes are genetic, biological, ethnic or chromosomal — that one's nature and understanding are decisively shaped by race, ethnicity or gender. Categorical representation holds that the interests of a group can be understood, empathized with and represented only by a member of that group.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dave
Interesting how the quoting of the ABC article ended right before the sentence:
2 - Silas Kain
Interesting. Apparently the individual in question began in the Gore Vice Presidency. So, if that's the case, Mr. Gore has some explaining to do. Aside from that, this Administration came into office under the perception that national security was a top priority. The buck stops in the Oval Office. Both the Clinton and Bush II Administrations should be held accountable. Unfortunately the Cowardly Congress will divide along party lines. Harry Reid will blame Bush. Dr. Frist will blame Clinton. Personally, I'd blame both branches of government. America, what's it gonna take to get our collective heads out of our arses? It doesn't matter which side of the issue you fall on -- we all deserve a government that is accountable to us for a change.
3 - Silas Kain
Let's not bait and switch this one. He started in the Gore Office, no doubt about it. But the incoming Administration collected resumes on all White House staff and made their own decisions. For once, both sides have got to come together. This isn't about Democrat vs. Republican. It's about National Security and that transcends politics. Any member of Congress who tries to play the party card should be called on he carpet. If you think it can't be done remember that these members of Congress stood on the steps of the Capitol on September 11, 2001 and sang God Bless America. It didn't matter that day who was what.
4 - Eric Berlin
Regardless of when the guy started working at the White House, it's bad news for an administration that is universally considered to be politically weak (after nearly four years of being nearly historically strong).
5 - LegendaryMonkey
Precisely. It doesn't matter where he comes from, or who is responsible for it. After declining support for the war, after the Plume issue, after FEMA and the label of cronyism, followed by the nomination of yet another of Bush's cronies, Harriet Miers, to the Supreme Court... now this?
It's a bad time to be in the White House, I expect.
6 - Bob A. Booey
Bush was never "historically strong." His great political skill was in transforming a weak mandate and marginal public support into a strong, aggressive agenda. But he never did it with the sheer force or charisma of the man he's most clearly emulating, Reagan, or with the legislative dominance of other forceful Presidents. He's a very good campaigner and eked out two elections, but he's not someone who rules by force of will and personality.
He's largely out of political capital now and he'll be lucky to get through this Miers thing with any left at all. Social Security is dead and he knows it.
The only significant domestic legislation that might happen before the 2006 midterms might be some sort of immigration reform, but Bush hasn't shown any leadership on the front.
That is all.
7 - Bob A. Booey
Let me be clearer: Bush wins, and Bush wins close contests, but Bush wins ugly and not with many style points. And he's run out of wins, I think. He may well be a lame duck President other than the Iraq reconstruction, which seems to be his whole legacy anyway.
The Filipino spy thing is more bad news, of course, that further damages the administration's declining reputation for being able to move quickly, competently, and intelligently to protect the nation and its security.
That is all.
8 - Eric Berlin
Bob -- Support for the President was historically strong over a four year period. I didn't mean to imply that Bush was / is a "historically strong President." Therefore, every new crack in this armor -- what some have called The Bush Myth, a great term in my opinion -- is especially noticeable.
Republicans have been remarkably unified from the Fall of 2001 through the summer of 2005. The very fact that that unity is now evidently fragile is a significant development indeed to political observers.
9 - Bob A. Booey
Only to uninformed political observers. Bush has been in danger of losing his legislative and popular conservative base for quite a while over the deficit along with some other issues.
It's coming to the fore with the Miers nomination.
I don't think Bush was ever that strong with the Congress since he struggled for years to get things like his energy bill and ANWR done. Social Security was something only a truly dominant President could have gotten done and Bush showed he was nowhere near that level. Other than right after 9/11, Bush has had very little bipartisan support whatsoever. Luckily for him, he's benefitted from having both houses under GOP control.
That is all.
10 - Dave Nalle
A recent poll showed Bush with 80% approval among Republicans, which I find hard to believe. Forget the Iraq war and disaster management. We want our damned Tax and Social Security reform.
Dave
11 - Eric Berlin
Only to uninformed political observers. Bush has been in danger of losing his legislative and popular conservative base for quite a while over the deficit along with some other issues.
Bob, that's simply not the case. The deficit has never been a significant issue, even if it should be (and it should be). Thus the runaway spending and era of Conservative Big Government.
I like to shorten Conservative Big Government to Don't-Tax-and-Spend.
12 - Eric Berlin
Dave -- Bush has had remarkably high support from within his own party throughout his presidency, which helped to drive the historical unity I mentioned, along with Karl Rove's successful strategy of tacking right on social issues during the '04 presidential campaign.
13 - Bob A. Booey
Bush has gotten a lot of cover for spending because of 9/11 and the war, but there have been lots of grumbles from fiscally conservative Republicans about his record spending and deficits for a couple of years.
Bush has maintained his party's support, but not so much more remarkably than most other Presidents have.
That is all.
14 - Dave Nalle
He's also gotten a lot of slack on spending because of the growth in GDP. That makes the spending less horrible in the short run.
Dave
15 - Jason Gonzales
Let's first and see if Leandro is actually guilty before jumping to conclusions. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?
16 - bhw
Interesting how the quoting of the ABC article ended right before the sentence:
In 2000, Aragoncillo worked on the staff of then-Vice President Al Gore.
But when is the spying alleged to have started? That's the key question -- I wonder how far back it goes. Scary thought.
17 - Stanley Jackson
To Eric Berlin,
Your headline says "Spy in the House of Bush", and then you say "it isn't about Democrats vs. Republicans". Well, you could have fooled me. The original story is written to conveniently obscure the fact that the spy operated in the White House from 1999 to 2001. Last time I checked Cheney took office on JANUARY 20TH, 2001. Let's get real.
18 - DrPat
"He has admitted to spying while working on the staff of Vice President Cheney's office."
All you need to do is click on the link, guys! And it is not about Cheney, or Gore, Bush or Clinton, IMHO -- it's an issue of security either way. The guy wasn't caught until he went to work for the FBI.
19 - DJRadiohead
Everything that happens in Washington D.C. is inevitably going to come back to politics.
In the current climate, if Bush supporters can find a way to spin it in his favor they will. In the current climate, if Bush opponents can find a way to spin it to his detriment they will.
Whether either group is right is almost entirely irrelevant. That is nearly as big a problem as espionage under various administrations.
20 - Silas Kain
And it is not about Cheney, or Gore, Bush or Clinton, IMHO -- it's an issue of security either way. The guy wasn't caught until he went to work for the FBI.
I agree. The main issue is security, DrPat. However, the Administrations have all of the tools at their disposal to insure that these things do not happen. One must wonder if the 'turf war' is alive and well between the Secret Service, FBI and CIA.
21 - Eric Berlin
Because Aragoncillo was arrested in 2005 while most recently working for the Vice President's office, it's a political problem for an already weakened administration.
In terms of politics, the exact moment when the spying began doesn't matter all that much.
22 - Cerulean
What does the Phillipines need to know that bad? I thought that they were our allies.
23 - Eric Berlin
It's a not-so-dirty little secret that everyone spies on everyone else.
And the U.S. has lots and lots and lots of information that nearly every country in the world would love to get their hands on.
24 - Dave
He was caught e-mailing classified material to the Phillipines while working for the FBI in 2005.
25 - Eric Berlin
Thanks for the details, Dave. However, that doesn't change the political equasion.