The spy within

It is absurd how little you can trust your neighbour, these days. The major issue is that the arrested former Marine, Leandro Aragoncillo, was an entrusted member of the White House team, ever since Clinton left office.

Intelligence business, nevertheless, knows of no allies. Just remember the scandal of the hearings in the U.N. building performed by the British. I guess the MI5 has a lot to improve since that. This time, though, we're talking really serious. The phillippine opposition, from a third-world country, waged an agent to steal one of the most powerful nation's secrets. Unthinkable, only yesterday.

What would have happened if the Soviets, during the Cold War had accessed such data? We would be all speaking Russian, by now.

What this discovery reflects is that everything is off guard. FBI, CIA, the White House. All in an evitable process of decadence that, considering the outgoing "war against terror" is dramatically worrying. Let us remind the reader that the southern phillippines are at war, because of a muslim guerrilla.

Bounds, of course, between Mr. Aragoncillo and such illegal groups cannot be demonstrated at this time, but such information would interest in the end the Al-Qaeda supported combattans, on which side the philippine terrorists are, of course.

America, and that's been spotted by some important analysts like Huntington, is losing the war of intelligence. They've been outsmarted by a philippine double agent. That is scary, in the sense that this time it's happening at home.

Officials insists that the information was "nothing special". Ok, let's believe them, and understand that it remains classified. In any case, such leakings are dangerous, no matter if the information regards the President's Scottish Terrier or launch codes for ICBMs. If we cannot be safe in the White House, then where will we be?

Miguel Vinuesa