Memories
While the Washington Post continues its series about the underbelly of Cheney Era, and White House spokesperson Dana Perino is sent out daily to confront more guffaws surrounding Cheney's 'fourth branch' claims, there still remain diehards who are defending the VP.
One of these is the (to me, insufferable) Bill Kristol, who over the weekend recalled his days as chief of staff to Dan Quayle, and talked about 'what a pain in the neck' it is to have a bureaucrat "come and inspect your safe to see whether you’re locking it up properly each night.”. The implication being that the VP is too important to be bothered with such pedestrian concerns, and can be implicitly trusted to makes sure no one has left our nation's secrets just lying about.
Kristol gets a lot of mileage out of his measured tones and disarming smile, and one could almost believe that having an external check on the security measures in the VP's office is needless and a silly nuisance.
Unless one was reminded, as we were by Josh Marshall, of the case of one Mr. Leandro Aragoncillo.
But then, I'm not Dick Cheney.
One of these is the (to me, insufferable) Bill Kristol, who over the weekend recalled his days as chief of staff to Dan Quayle, and talked about 'what a pain in the neck' it is to have a bureaucrat "come and inspect your safe to see whether you’re locking it up properly each night.”. The implication being that the VP is too important to be bothered with such pedestrian concerns, and can be implicitly trusted to makes sure no one has left our nation's secrets just lying about.
Kristol gets a lot of mileage out of his measured tones and disarming smile, and one could almost believe that having an external check on the security measures in the VP's office is needless and a silly nuisance.
Unless one was reminded, as we were by Josh Marshall, of the case of one Mr. Leandro Aragoncillo.
ABC NewsIf my former chief of staff had just been sentenced to jail for obstructing justice and perjury, in a case involving leaking the identity of a covert CIA officer, and a couple years ago a spy had been arrested after taking classified info from my office, I think I'd shut up about special exemptions from security protocols, and just try to get people thinking about something else.
Oct. 5, 2005
Both the FBI and CIA are calling it the first case of espionage in the White House in modern history.
Officials tell ABC News the alleged spy worked undetected at the White House for almost three years. Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, was a U.S. Marine most recently assigned to the staff of Vice President Dick Cheney.
...
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.
But then, I'm not Dick Cheney.
posted by Paul at 10:23 AM |
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