Untold stories about "Perfect Spy" Pham Xuan An

At the beginning of the talk, Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh (Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities) expressed his joy at welcoming Prof. Larry Berman and reading the book “Perfect Spy” - written about the life of the talented intelligence officer Pham Xuan An. The meeting helped the staff and students of the school learn more interesting stories about the process of Prof. Larry Berman meeting General Pham Xuan An and writing this book.

“I am very happy to be back at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. And today, I would like to tell not only the story of Major General Pham Xuan An but also the story of war and reconciliation. How could a person who was a spy for the North Vietnamese army during the war be an honored guest on a US military ship? The answer is a mystery, as is the name of General Pham Xuan An” - Professor Larry Berman suggested the content of the conversation.

Overview of the talk

According to Professor Larry Berman, the most interesting thing about General Pham Xuan An is the way he hid himself under such a perfect cover. At that time, Pham Xuan An was on one hand a reporter for Time magazine operating in Saigon, but on the other hand he was a spy nicknamed X6.

The first time Professor Larry Berman met Major General Pham Xuan An was in 2000. When he learned that Professor Larry Berman was writing a book about the negotiation process of the 1973 Paris Agreement, General An asked to speak with him privately. Thanks to his knowledge, General Pham Xuan An helped the Professor complete the book titled “No peach, no honor”.

Prof. Larry Berman Introducing the original book “Perfect Spy”. Bookis now required reading in CIA spy training courses..

From then on, the desire to write a book about Pham Xuan An's life urged Professor Larry Berman. He proposed to General An but was refused. It was not until 3 years later, when General An was seriously ill and in very poor health, that he agreed to let Larry Berman write about his life. "I kept going back and forth between the US and Vietnam for nearly 2 months, I took full advantage to write the story" - the Professor shared.

Pham Xuan An's intelligence career was associated with things like invisible ink, secret bunkers, and packages of fermented pork rolls containing intelligence messages that had to be sent to base areas. "There was a dog that General An trained to guard him when receiving and sending messages to the organization at a fixed tree. Later, he was promoted to Major General. Pham Xuan An was so good at intelligence that General Vo Nguyen Giap once said: "It seems like we are already in the American meeting room" - the author added.

Pham Xuan An's life was so interesting that many people wanted to know his story. But he refused every time someone asked to write about him. "There was a journalist named Shine Coulor who asked for permission to pay General An 500,000 USD, just for him to write a memoir about his life. But General An refused" - Professor Larry Berman said.

The author considers this book to be about the life, journalism career and cover of Mr. Pham Xuan An rather than a story about intelligence activities. The book is currently required reading material in CIA spy training courses. “Lonely undercover agent” is how the CIA calls General An. They always want to find out how those lone undercover agents can exist and survive in such a dangerous environment.

At the end of the presentation, Professor Larry Berman took time to answer questions from delegates and students in attendance and signed books to thank those who attended.