Spy Case Suggests White House Security Problem

Oct. 6, 2005 — -- The discovery that a former White House staff member allegedly used his top secret clearance to steal classified intelligence documents indicates there are serious gaps in high-level White House security, a former White House counterterrorism expert says.

"What it means is that there is a hole in White House security," Richard Clarke, a former White House adviser who is now an ABC News consultant. "There are two kinds of people at the White House: Those that have been very well-vetted and those that have been extremely well-vetted and have access to the top secret computer network. This man had access to the top secret computer network."

Sources tell ABC News that Leandro Aragoncillo, a U.S. Marine most recently assigned to the staff of Vice President Dick Cheney, stole classified material from the vice president's office, included damaging dossiers on the president of the Philippines, and then passed them on to opposition politicians planning a coup in the Pacific nation. Sources said a former Philippine president has admitted that he received some information from the alleged spy. The case was first reported by ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross.

Aragoncillo, 46, worked undetected at the White House for almost three years. Both the FBI and CIA are calling it the first case of espionage within the White House in modern history.

Federal investigators say Aragoncillo is a naturalized citizen from the Philippines. Aragoncillo worked at the White House from 1999 to 2001 and was assigned to the vice president's office under both Al Gore and Cheney.

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. Aragoncillo began sending classified information and documents in January while working at Fort Monmouth, according to an FBI complaint. From May to Aug. 15 of this year, the complaint said, he printed or downloaded 101 classified documents relating to the Philippines, of which 37 were classified "secret." He sent some of the material to Michael Ray Aquino, a former deputy director of the Philippines national police who lives in New York City, the complaint said.