A Spy on our Soil

File Under: Espionage

It's the type of twist Americans would expect to hear about in an episode of TV's Alias, or 24: a mole working undercover as a federal officer. It used to be one of the nation's greatest fears during the Cold War with the Soviets. And now, we have someone who was working inside the White House, accused of spying.

ABC News appears to have broke the story, which alledges that Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, was the first espionage agent inside the White House in modern history. He worked undected at the White House for almost three years on the staff of Vice President Dick Cheney, using his top secret clearance to steal classified intelligence documents from White House computers.

Leandro Aragoncillo is a naturalized citizen from the Philippines. In 2000, he worked on the staff of Vice President Al Gore. And get this: in an interview with a television station in the Philippines, he said that Filipono's were valued at the White House, and went on to say this: "I think what they like most is our integrity and loyalty." Well, evidentially, (alledgedly), he lacked that quality.

The files he stole included "damaging dossiers" on the president of the Philippines. He then passed them on to the opposition, who were planning a coup. He was caught by the FBI while working for them at an intelligence center in Fort Monmouth, NJ.

Last year, after leaving the Marines, Aragoncillo was caught by the FBI while he worked for the Bureau at an intelligence center at Fort Monmouth, N.J. Most of the information was transferred via e-mails. That was a month ago. Officials say that Aragoncillo has started to cooperate, and that he admitted to spying while working as a member of Vice President Cheney's staff. According to friends, Aragoncillo claimed to also worked with Bill Clinton and Condoleeza Rice.

For the late night viewers, the reason you probably don't see the story out on many news sites is that it's an ABC story, and the other networks may not be able to independantly confirm this story right now. Expect alot more in the morning presses, and in the regular news cycle. And expect stupid questions like, "how will the recent revelation of a White House Mole impact the hearings of Harriet Meirs to the Supreme Court?"

All humor aside, this is a very serious case, and not only is American intelligence (and, therefore, our defense) compromised, so too is the life of Filipino President Macagapal-Arroyo. Expect news from this to develop for a long, long time.