The Spy Who Loved Us_ The Vietnam War and Pham Xuan An's Dangerous Game ( PDFDrive )

104 THOMAS A. BASS
I would go for four to six years and get an M.A. degree or, if possible,
a Ph.D. while learning about American culture.”
But An had a hard time getting to the United States. “The
U.S. military attaché took me to visit the Asia Foundation.
They offered me a scholarship, but the Vietnamese authorities
refused to allow me to accept it because I didn’t have a high
school diploma. This was their excuse for giving the scholarship
to their family members and relatives.” His plan hit another
roadblock when he was told that he could not study subjects
such as politics or economics that were taught in Vietnam, no
matter who paid his way to America.
It was Mai Chi Tho, head of North Vietnamese intelligence,
and Muoi Huong, An’s case officer, who decided to send
him to the United States to be trained as a journalist. Muoi
Huong got the idea from Ho Chi Minh, who had worked as a
reporter. It was the perfect cover for a spy, granting access to
obscure places and elevated people. The plan was approved at
the highest levels of the Vietnamese Politburo, but it would take
several years to execute. An’s father was dying. French-trained
administrators, who did not like the idea of sending a Vietnamese
to study in the United States, blocked An’s exit visa. The
Communist Party had a hard time finding enough money. Finally
Mai Chi Tho scraped together eighty thousand dong,
which at the time was worth about two thousand dollars. This
was sufficient to buy An’s airplane ticket to America and four
new suits—if only he could find a way to get out of Vietnam.
“The idea of becoming a journalist was all right, but I didn’t
know much about it,” An says. “‘Journalism is very important but
very dangerous,’ Muoi Huong told me. ‘Everyone is suspicious
of journalists, thinking that they are carrying out intelligence
activities.’
“I had to ask the people of the revolution to borrow money
for me,” An says. “The Communist Party paid for my travel to
the U.S. I had six years of pension, but that wasn’t enough. I