Aragoncillo, 46, a 21-year U.S. Marine veteran who worked undetected at the White House for almost three years in the office of Vice President Richard Cheney as a U.S. Marine security officer before retiring and joining the FBI in July 2004, is now suspected of spying inside the White House — one month after he was arrested in his Woodbury, N.J. residence for allegedly stealing top-secret documents using an FBI database.

A suspected co-conspirator, Michael Ray Aquino, 39, formerly deputy director of the Philippine National Police’s Intelligence Group, was also arrested on an expired visa on Sept. 10 in his Jamaica, N.Y. home.

Both were ordered detained without bail pending trial.

Aquino was indicted on Oct. 6. His lawyer, Mark A. Berman, said his client rejected a plea deal.

Federal prosecutors in Newark, N.J. did not seek an indictment against Aragoncillo because he is negotiating a plea, court records show.

In Manila, Malacañan Palace distanced itself from a widening U.S. espionage scandal saying it was an internal American matter.

“We consider it as the business of the U.S. Government and we will not be making any further comments,” said Philippine presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye.

ABC News quoted FBI officials as saying Aragoncillo has confessed to stealing classified information from Cheney’s office, including damaging dossiers on the president of the Philippines, which he allegedly passed on by e-mail to opposition leaders planning a coup in the Philippines. He has been cooperating since his arrest, according to probers.

Aragoncillo reportedly also worked on the staff of then Vice President Al Gore in 2000, when Aragoncillo was interviewed by ABS-CBN Manila and told Filipino TV journalist Korina Sanchez how Filipino employees were valued at the White House.

“I think what they like most is our integrity and loyalty,” said Aragoncillo, a father of two sons, ages 20 and 19.

“When they saw my style,” he said in the same interview, “I took care of them from the very beginning with regards to their security clearances and administrative work. They liked my style, so they asked me if I want to stay.”

The New York Daily News said Aragoncillo also told friend he worked for President Bill Clinton and then National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice.

Investigators are now trying to figure out how Aragoncillo, a naturalized American citizen, landed his job at the White House and how he escaped detection for so long.

The case now focuses on the White House, according to CBS News, where all levels of access are controlled by security clearance, which Aragoncillo possessed. He started his 31-month service at the Vice President’s office in 1999, when Cheney’s predecessor Gore was still in the office and when Joseph Estrada was the Philippine President.

Estrada, who was forced from office four years ago by a People Power demonstration, has acknowledged receiving information from Aragoncillo, authorities said.

Now under house arrest while facing massive corruption charges in the Philippines, Estrada said Aragoncillo had visited him in detention and had passed on some documents on the Philippine political situation, they said.

A U.S. official familiar with the investigation said Aragoncillo was paid to steal the information he obtained, but e-mail messages cited in the complaint also portray him as having a interest in shaping the politics of his birthplace, the Washington Post said.

Bush Administration 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.”

Aquino’s attorney and family have denied all the allegations, while Aragoncillo has offered no public statement.

Aragoncillo’s attorney, Chester Keller of Newark, could not be reached.

The criminal complaint against Aragoncillo alleged that between May and mid-August this year, he either printed or downloaded 101 classified documents relating to the Philippines, of which 37 were classified at the “Secret” level.

The complaint named the recipients of the documents only as “a former high-level national public official” and two “current high-level national public officials.” Speculation is raging in Manila about their identities, but U.S. prosecutors have yet to reveal the names.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer in Manila last month published a series of articles detailing what it said were classified U.S. Embassy reports about the political turmoil in the Philippines.

The newspaper claimed it had received documents from a source and that it believed to be among those downloaded by Aragoncillo.

In one document, Joseph Mussomeli, deputy chief of the U.S. Embassy at the time, reportedly advised the U.S. that Presidennt Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s public support had faded and elements of all Philippine military services were planning an operation to remove her.

In another, citing military and civilian contacts, he wrote that Philippine generals and more radical junior officers were separately plotting to oust her.

A document from late July reportedly detailed coup discussions at a secret conclave of about two dozen young army and naval officers in Manila.

Another account, citing a clandestine source, described Mrs. Arroyo calling an emergency meeting of her commanding generals to ensure their backing.

The reports reveal not only sources of sensitive U.S. information but include frank and unflattering assessments of Philippine leaders, according to the Post.

One report described Mrs. Arroyo as weak and overbearing with little popular credibility; her vice president, Noli de Castro, was called inept and unfit to take her place.

On Wednesday, a top Pentagon analyst, Lawrence Franklin, pleaded guilty to giving classified information to an Israeli diplomat and members of a pro-Israel lobbying group, saying he did it because he was frustrated with U.S. Government policy.

Franklin, 58, faces up to 25 years in jail when he is sentenced on Jan. 20. 2006, though he would likely serve less time if the judge follows sentencing guidelines, according to reports.

Both Aragoncillo and Aquino are charged with one count of conspiracy, which carries a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, and one count of acting as an unregistered agent subject to the direction of a foreign official, which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Aragoncillo is also charged with one count of the unauthorized use of a government computer to obtain and transmit classified information to persons not entitled to receive that information, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years and a $250,000 fine.