Speaker 1: Welcome to Spycraft, a podcast that tells gripping life and
death spy stories and the amazing devices and operations that
made them possible. Now, let's get started.
Speaker 2: And welcome back everybody. Sorry for the long delay, but
I'm back. The Perfect Spy How a Vietnamese agent masquerade
as Times top reporter. During the height of the Vietnam War,
American military commanders, CIA operatives and journalists all turned to
one man for his penetrating analysis of the conflict. Fombje On.
That's Pham x U a n a n Time Magazine's
most trusted correspondent in Sygon. However, what none of them
knew was that their confidant was actually Vietnam's most valuable intelligence. Recently,
these classified documents and interviews with former colleagues revealed how
it orchestrated, how On orchestrated what many intelligence experts now
consider one of the most successful espionage operations of the
twentieth century. For nearly three decades, he provided North Vietnam
with critical and military intelligence while maintaining his cover as
a respected Western journalist. His genius lies in his authenticity.
He didn't just pretend to be a journalist he became
one of Vietnam's finest reporters. Born in nineteen twenty seven
to a prominent Vietnamese family, Fom's path to espionage began
in nineteen fifty with modest assignments tracking French military movements.
His superiors, recognizing his exceptional talent, sent him to study
journalism in the US. Upon returning to Vietnam, he executed
a bold move that demonstrated his tactical brilliance. He approached
South Vietnam's counterintelligence chief directly requesting work. This audacious strategy
not only confirmed his cover remained intact, but provided him
with high level access to the South Vietnamese government. His
journalistic career flourished. Time magazine and Reuters competed to hire him,
with Time ultimately winning services for about seven hundred and
fifty a month, which is actually quite a bit in
the nineteen sixties in Saigon. But Fom's real currency was trust.
He cultivated an extensive network that included military commandersia operatives,
and government ministers, all of whom shared sensitive information with
their new respected colleague. The intelligence he gathered was so
precise that North Vietnamese leaders would later remark were inside
the American headquarters. Over his career, he transmitted nearly five
hundred detailed intelligence reports to Hanoi, many containing critical strategic
information that would shape the war's outcome. Perhaps most remarkably,
even after his role as a spy was revealed in
nineteen seventy five, many of his American contacts main had
their respect for him. Until his death in two thousand
and six, he never disclosed the name of his sources,
citing not just professional ethics but human dignity. Today, intelligence
professionals study his methods as a master class in human
intelligence gathering. What makes his case unique was his ability
to maintain authentic relationships while operating at the highest levels
of deception. In the world of espionage, folks, that's the
ultimate achievement.