Time journalist who turned out to be a spy

A truly extraordinary journalist died on Wednesday, aged 78. Pham Xuan An worked for Time magazine for three years during the Vietnam War and, according to its former Saigon bureau chief, Stanley Cloud, he was "a first-class journalist, with better sources in the South Vietnamese government and a better understanding of the war's historical and political meaning for Vietnam than we would ever have." In fact, unbeknown to Cloud and his colleagues, An was a North Vietnamese spy with the rank of colonel in the Vietcong army. It was not until after the fall of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) that the truth emerged. But Cloud admired An and met him again in 1990, by which time he was a major general. Cloud's tribute is affectionate, with an interesting twist! (Via TIME magazine)