FBI: Bungling spy comes in for a cold shoulder
Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 04:51PM THE strange case of an undercover FBI agent, a senior Australian defence officer, a former White House adviser and a US investigation into money laundering in the Sudan came together with the soft chime of a Canberra door bell at 6.30pm last Thursday.
The bell rang at the home of a US citizen and Australian resident, Gwenyth Todd - a former Middle East adviser to the White House, the Pentagon and the US Navy - and her husband, a senior Australian Defence Force officer.
Ms Todd's husband answered the door and was greeted by a middle-aged man who said he was the US embassy consular officer Bill Phelps. He said that a recent incident involving Chinese hackers had compromised some US passports and he was warning local Americans.
Once inside the house he told Ms Todd - whose married surname begins with an H - he was speaking to US citizens with surnames starting with that letter.
''I said, 'Your story has a problem because my last name on my US passport does not begin with an H, my last name is Todd','' she told the Herald.
''He got all flustered, and he said, 'Oh wait, let me think, R, S, T … oh yeah, Ts were compromised, too.' It was so bad it was almost comical.''
Mr Phelps left soon after. ''I said to my husband, 'I think that guy is intel. I could smell a rat'.''
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