Memories of writing books about intelligence officers

I can't answer everything, because every journalist already knows the art of interviewing characters, and it would be redundant to say anything, so I'll quote the famous American interviewer Larry King before he retired, when he answered his "treasure" journalists: "Be genuinely curious." I used this quote as the title of my interview book.

Spy Pham Xuan An

Curiosity is often considered a bad thing, and it is difficult to go hand in hand with sincerity - it sounds paradoxical and people are always "wary of the journalist's tape recorder". Are you afraid that you might say something wrong, or that the journalist is sincere, or that the quote is distorted and unfavorable?

I also foolishly carried a "brick" recording device back when digital technology was not as widespread as it is now - to put it in front of the veteran journalist - spy Pham Xuan An and clumsily pressed hard, causing it to fall. He must have been amused and surprised, and kindly advised: "You should probably find another topic. This thing is very difficult". This thing - he meant the intelligence profession. At that time it had not been made public, and no one in the public knew about him.

He even said sincerely: "Sit here with me, when you go out the gate you will be on the blacklist."

Sincerity has kept my curiosity overcoming all fear. After all, I do my job honestly, what is there to be afraid of?

Looking back now, it's really "scary". Not because I was once called by my boss at work to advise "you guys are responsible"... as soon as I arrived at work. "You're writing something, so get out of the way". It's been decades, now when I meet my boss at parties, he says he's forgotten about it.

But now I am afraid because I have "butted my head" into a difficult subject - a transcendent man with the most inaccessible and vast professional secrets. Even if Western authors came to write with the advantage of declassified historical documents, I am still sure that he took many secrets to the grave.

Although I was dedicated by history professor Larry Berman: "Your book paved the way for all of us..."; "Of all the people who wrote about Pham Xuan An, you are the one who understands his humanism better than anyone else."

Professor Thomas Bass (when interviewing journalist Thanh Tuan of Tuoi Tre Newspaper) commented: "Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hai is the leading author on Pham Xuan An. Her book is an important guide for all of us who follow in her footsteps to write about him."

… Until now I am still "afraid" of my recklessness.

Writing about intelligence officers, I learned and discovered from them the subtle behavior of humanists.

Kỷ niệm khi viết sách về các nhà tình báo- Ảnh 1. — Cover of the book *Life Through the Centuries* - about spy Hoang Dao (Tre Publishing House)

Zodiac Spy

Agent Hoang Dao came to me after he read an article I wrote in the newspaper. He did not intend to find me to tell about himself, because he thought that "the story of the ship attack was very old, now is the time when "many stories" are more difficult... He wanted to vent to someone who could discuss many "questions of the times". Why do people behave this way and that? Why is he always tormented and considered "different" from modern life?

Then he told me that when he was working in the South, because of his personality and his longing for his mother, he was imprisoned by the "revolutionary side" for being undisciplined... He was truly a typical "Southern character".

He wanted to vent his many questions about current events and his obsession with the past. Thanks to that, I discovered a thoughtful person, "old-fashioned" compared to current events but never willing to be out of date.

All of our conversations took place at "street stalls" in many places on the streets of District 3, Ho Chi Minh City. Sometimes when we argued, he raised his voice as if arguing. Now wherever I go, I can easily remember his image even though the shop has been built bigger and more beautiful than before...

General Mai Chi Tho

As for General Mai Chi Tho, I had many surprises after many years of writing the book General Mai Chi Tho . He was very busy with important matters, and as soon as he finished his work, I almost never saw him again.

Then I got sick and was hospitalized in Ho Chi Minh City. Suddenly that morning, the whole yard was in chaos. Nurses and doctors rushed to my room to clean and prepare urgently. Not knowing what was happening, I was surprised to see General Mai Chi Tho appear smiling at the door of the room. He was the highest leader in the city. When I did not dare to accept the rare ginseng gift at that time, he said jokingly, the whole room laughed:

"Take it. People came to give you alms when you were sick, now you give me alms in return…".

Another time, when the general was old and sick, he went to China for medical treatment. He brought with him the book General Mai Chi Tho, which I had written. And from this detail, I found a close Chinese friend from my childhood who studied in Hai Phong - who had been separated and no one knew where to find him.

The story is, when the general went to China, he had a Chinese translator with him. This person was given the book. When he brought it home, his sister, Dung Lay Man, unexpectedly read the book and exclaimed: "The author of this book is my close friend whom I have lost contact with for a long time."

I have been close friends with Dung Lay Man since childhood. Man was my mother's primary school student. One time, Man climbed up to the roof of an American air shelter to play and fell and broke his arm. My mother took Man to the hospital. When I grew up, I worked as a journalist in Hanoi and felt very sorry when I heard that Man could not go to university and had to work at a salt factory in Do Son (Hai Phong).

In 1979, I was a reporter writing about the war on the northern border. I was heartbroken to see the stream of Chinese people following the instigation of the "overseas Chinese refugees" fleeing back to their country. Looking at the crowded stream of people fleeing, I was heartbroken to see Man among the issue, but I didn't see him.

Now, thanks to my book about General Mai Chi Tho, Man and his sister flew from Guangzhou (China) to Ho Chi Minh City to visit me. We went to Ben Thanh market together, had fun and recalled many old memories… I just found out that year, Man was among the crowd of people running to the border to return home.

Kỷ niệm khi viết sách về các nhà tình báo- Ảnh 2. — Book cover *Tran Quoc Huong - intelligence commander* (People's Police Publishing House)

Intelligence Commander Tran Quoc Huong

With the intelligence commander Tran Quoc Huong, we had another surprise. He had agreed to meet me, so I led the film crew of female director Phong Lan to his house as scheduled. The camera equipment was ready, but I was surprised to learn that he was in poor health and would go to the hospital after the meeting.

Some family members felt sorry for him and were worried, so they angrily blamed the film crew. Everyone was so scared that they ran away. The reporters carried their cameras to the gate. We got in the car and drove back to Ho Chi Minh City, considering the trip a failure, a profession that often requires "going home with a bloody head".

The car was about to go up Saigon Bridge when my phone rang. It turned out to be the intelligence commander calling to apologize to his family and said, "I'm in the car following your car. Go straight to T78, I'll pick up the group there."

So we were surprised, happy and relieved. We were free to interview. Then he treated us to a simple lunch. What a smart, unexpected and humane behavior.

Many years have passed. He is now gone. But every time I cross the Saigon Bridge, I always recall this touching memory of the intelligent humane behavior of great and refined people.

This year marks the great anniversary of the reunification of the country, a cause to which great intelligence officers devoted their efforts and lived their lives in fear to achieve great feats. They are gone.

Only I am old, wandering the streets...

Works on intelligence by journalist Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hai:

Life through the centuries - spy Hoang Dao, the first great achievement of the intelligence industry in defeating the French ship Amyot Dinville - Huynh Van Nghe award (Tre Publishing House).
General Mai Chi Tho (People's Police Publishing House) - work translated into English by The Gioi Publishing House.
Tran Quoc Huong - intelligence commander (People's Police Publishing House).
Pham Xuan An - a person's name like a life (People's Police Publishing House) - 10-year Literature Prize A (1995 - 2005) Ministry of Public Security and Vietnam Writers Association.