incompo-fascism

TPM

'the connected and mutually-reinforcing bonds of authoritarianism and incompetence'

There's been a lot of discussion of late about Vice President Cheney's unwillingness to abide by the rules followed by the rest of the executive branch when it comes to safeguarding and handling classified material -- particularly his claim that his office is, all appearances to the contrary, not part of the executive branch. And many have noted that the Libby case shows that the VP's office has some serious deficiencies when it comes to handling classified data.

But this isn't the only case.

It seems now largely to have been forgotten. But let's not forget the case of Leandro Aragoncillo, the naturalized US citizen of filipino descent who engaged in espionage on behalf of opposition leaders in his native country while worked as a Marine security official in Vice President Cheney's office. To the best of my knowledge this is the only known case of espionage taking place within the White House. And it happened in Cheney's operation.

Perhaps even more revealing, Aragoncillo was originally tasked to the Veep's office in 1999 when Vice President Gore was still in office. But he apparently only began snatching classified documents after Cheney showed up.

In any case, two observations. The first is that this isn't a on-off affair. The Cheney OVP seems to have a serious issue safeguarding classified material -- one so serious it has led to two felony convictions. So Bill Kristol may think it's annoying to have government 'bureaucrats' checking on how classified material is being safeguarded. But the Cheney crew could really use the help.

Second, I think we see here a hint of a too-little noted pattern -- the connected and mutually-reinforcing bonds of authoritarianism and incompetence. The Libby case (and the Plame case generally) is somewhat separate in that it was the intentional breaching of national security secrets. But is it a coincidence that the most paranoically secrecy obsessed office in the executive branch is the one that actually managed to have a spy working in its midst?

-- Josh Marshall