Alleged W.H. Spy Negotiating Plea

An FBI analyst who is being investigated for passing along classified information is negotiating a plea deal. Meanwhile, a former Filipino police official was indicted Thursday on charges of passing classified information from the FBI analyst to current and former officials in the Philippines.

The FBI is investigating whether the analyst, a former Marine, also provided classified information taken from the White House when he worked in the vice president's office, government officials say.

Federal prosecutors in Newark, New Jersey, did not seek an indictment against the analyst, Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, because he is negotiating a plea, court records show.

His alleged go-between, Michael Ray Aquino, 39, living in Queens, New York, was charged with conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign agent.

The charges mirror those filed in September when Aquino and Aragoncillo were arrested. Both have been jailed in federal custody in New Jersey since their arrests.

Aquino lawyer Mark A. Berman said his client, a former deputy director of the Philippines National Police rejected, a plea deal.

"There's a fundamental difference between Aragoncillo and Aquino," Berman said. "Aquino is not an FBI agent and had no reason to know that the information the government laid out in the indictment was classified."

Philippine Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales said the criminal complaint against Aragoncillo suggests the information could have been intended to destabilize the Philippine government.

"We were able to determine that he had reviewed and possibly downloaded sensitive or classified documents while working for the FBI," FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko told CBS Radio News. "Several of them were classified and were probably not in the routine cases that he would have been working."

The case now focuses on the White House, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Plante where all levels of access are controlled by security clearance.

Aragoncillo had both. He worked at the White House from 1999 to 2001 and was assigned to the vice president's office under both Al Gore and Dick Cheney.

White House officials said Wednesday they were aware of the investigation but would provide no details.

"It is an ongoing investigation and as such all questions should be directed to the FBI," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "We are cooperating fully with the investigation."

McClellan declined Thursday to further discuss the investigation or Aragoncillo's specific duties while he worked in the offices of Gore and Cheney. "We're not going to have anything further on it," he said.

This case could have a broad impact on federal access and security procedures, reports CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said investigators were examining all of Aragoncillo's postings where he had access to classified information, including the White House.

Aragoncillo was hired to work at the Army's Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, in July 2004 and began sending classified information and documents in January, according to an FBI complaint made public last month. The documents' contents have not been made public.

From May to Aug. 15 of this year, he printed or downloaded 101 classified documents relating to the Philippines, of which 37 were classified "secret," according to the criminal complaint.

He sent some of the material to Aquino, the complaint said.

Aragoncillo's public defender, Chester M. Keller, declined to say if his client was cooperating with investigators. "It's just too sensitive right now," Keller said.

After his arrest, Aragoncillo "essentially admitted that he took classified information," Assistant U.S. Attorney Karl H. Buch told the magistrate.

Aragoncillo is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in the Philippines. He had top secret clearance.

A Philippine opposition senator has acknowledged that he received information from Aquino. Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former national police chief under whom Aquino served, said he and "many others" received information passed by Aquino, but he played down the value of the reports, describing them as "shallow information."

Last month, Newark U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said there was no evidence that the administration of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was involved, but he would not say if the suspects were in contact with opposition factions. The Asian nation has been beset by persistent coup rumors since Arroyo was accused of rigging last year's elections.