`White House spy stole documents from Cheney'

`White House spy stole documents from Cheney' WASHINGTON: A former US Marine and naturalised US citizen from the Philippines breached security at the White House and allegedly used his top secret clearances to steal classified documents from Vice President Dick Cheney's office, ABC News said on Wednesday. The FBI and CIA are calling it the first case of espionage at the White House in modern history, according to ABC. ABC said Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, worked undetected at the White House for almost three years before leaving to take a job with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He was arrested last month and accused of downloading more than 100 classified documents from FBI computers. Officials told ABC the classified material which Aragoncillo stole included damaging dossiers on the president of the Philippines. They were allegedly passed on to opposition politicians planning a coup in the Pacific nation. The White House referred reporters to the FBI, but confirmed an investigation had been launched. "No comment, all questions have to be addressed to the FBI, it's a pending investigation and the White House will do its best to cooperate," deputy White House spokesman Trent Duffy said. Officials are trying to figure out how Aragoncillo got his job at the White House in 1999, and when he started spying, ABC said. The former Marine worked on the staff of then vice president Al Gore in 2000 and told friends he also worked with former president Bill Clinton and with Condoleezza Rice when she was national security advisor, the network said. "Even though it's not for the Russians or some other government, the fact that it occurred at the White House is a matter of great concern," John Martin, the government's lead espionage prosecutor for 26 years, was quoted as saying.