This was political espionage, not on behalf of an enemy of this country, but on behalf of an opposition political party in a country that's been more or less friendly to us, regardless who's been in power, for generations.

Drudge is headlining an ABC News story on a deeply disturbing espionage case at the White House involving a naturalized American of Filipino descent who worked for Vice President Dick Cheney (and also Al Gore). Both the FBI and CIA...

Presumably, low level staffers wouldn't have access to the VP's office, let alone unsupervised access to classified email.

A Marine, however, working near classified materials, would have a proper clearance, at least to the level of the materials he'd be near--probably jointly handled by FBI & Secret Service. Neither of them would include polygraphs. And once you've the clearance, it's pretty much good for five years until it's updated on a regular cycle. Going bad in mid-cycle is a danger, obviously.

USMC Embassy Security Guards are assigned to US Embassies abroad solely to protect classified documents and equipment--protecting people and facilities is done on an as-needed proposition. They scour embassy offices for materials or equipment left unsecured nightly, securing what they find... one expects. Was Aragoncilllo recycling documents found laying around loose?

The USMCSG are also responsible for destroying classified documents and equipment if things get too "interesting" locally.