A Filipino Spy in the White House?

Mon 10 Oct 2005 2:44:50

Latest news from the Aragoncillo/Aquino espionage case (previously mentioned here) is that Aragoncillo, a naturalized US Marine, worked in the White House on the vice presidential staff:

Officials say the classified material, which Aragoncillo stole from the vice president's office, included damaging dossiers on the president of the Philippines. He then passed those on to opposition politicians planning a coup in the Pacific nation.

ABC News hypes this up as the first case of foreign espionage in the White House in recent history, but there's still no indication that the actual breach was in the White House. Captain's Quarters has reports that Aragoncillo's acquisition of classified documents came after his time in the White House. The FBI is investigating White House computers nonetheless. Put in perspective, there was hardly a threat to US secrets, since Aragoncillo was sharing dossiers on the Philippine situation rather than anything that US intelligence had to hide.

Connie Veneracion has a bone to pick with US intelligence for keeping classified documents on the Philippines at all:

But when the US government commits any act that undermines the sovereignty of another state, or when it seeks to extend the application of its domestic laws and policies beyond its borders, it is no longer an American issue. Michael Ray Aquino and Leandro Aragoncillo are both residents of the US and are thus subject to its laws. If they have violated any law, they should answer for the infractions. But who will put the FBI to task for gathering and keeping classified dossiers on Philippine government officials? And why do I get the nagging feeling that all these spying activities will, as usual, be explained away as part of the "war on terrorism?"

Since long before the war on terror, and even before the Cold War and World War II, the USA has had great political and economic interest vested in the Philippines, thanks to its strategic central location in East Asian affairs, with proximity to Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the rest of Southeast Asia. It's not surprising at all that a world power keeps close tabs on the goings-on in the archipelago, regardless of questions of sovereignty.

This is not to defend or justify the invasions of privacy which may have been perpetrated to form the classified dossiers in question, but the sobering given is that it is the nature of international clandestine intelligence to disrespect privacy and sovereignty -- which is why Aragoncillo and Aquino were arrested, and which is why an American found to be spying or sharing classified Filipino intelligence documents would himself be arrested and detained or deported if he were caught. (And which is also why James Bond is a secret agent.)

(Aside: Stanley Karnow's In Our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines is currently on my reading list.)

More stuff on this from various news sources and weblogs:

• IHT: Arroyo's foes used files of FBI agent
• WaPo: Estrada says he was given US documents -- but it was nothing he didn't already know from watching the news. "Aragoncillo knows I am a president who was pro-poor," Estrada said from his secluded vacation estate. You cannot make these things up. Well, you can. But still. Erap talaga.
• US cool to RP offer of help in spy case
• The Belmont Club: Spy in the White House.
• Baldilocks: This is Unsettling/Heinous
• Willie Galang: Spies in the White House / Will espionage case negatively impact US-RP relations?
• Michelle Malkin makes Manolo mad.