(sotto voce) let's not mention the other guy ...

From Reuters, a story of intrigue.

Ex-Cheney aide gets 10 years in prison in spy case

NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - A former White House official who took top secret documents from U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's office and gave them to opposition figures in the Philippines was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years in prison.

Philippine-born Leandro Aragoncillo, a U.S. citizen and former Marine, pleaded guilty last year to taking the documents that included details on threats against U.S. government interests and military personnel in the Philippines.

Aragoncillo worked on the security detail assigned to the vice president from 1999 to 2002, where he held a top security clearance. He later took a job as an intelligence analyst with the FBI in New Jersey.

"There's no doubt that you did betray a position of trust that very few people are able to occupy," Judge William Walls told Aragoncillo.

Ahem.  Just exactly who was VP in 1999 and 2000 when Mr. Aragoncillo was assigned to the detail and received his top security clearance?  I've got to admit, though, it really adds to Mr. Cheney's media-generated combination of ineptly born-to-lose Charlie Brown and personification-of-evil Darth Vader to mention only his name.  When you've already got a ready-made clown/villain why would you tarnish the sterling rep of ol' what's-his-name.

Comments

[wolfwalker]

I have a more direct question: why is Reuters describing a member of the Vice President's security detail as an "aide" and "a former White House official"? The vice president's office isn't in the White House. Even if it was, the VP's security detail is made up of Secret Service agents, who are law-enforcement agents working for the Treasury Department. They aren't "officials" in any normal meaning of the word, any more than a city cop is.

[Giacomo]

You are right, ww. It slipped past me as I searched for the former VP's still-unmentioned name in the body of the story.

[kim]

Reuters organs maintain harmony and consistency of theme. How else could the siren sing?

Your keyboards pose; come, the music swells.
========================