Assistant Director Smith

''"Don't worry about it. We've got other agents working on the case." - ''Assistant Director Smith

Zagim, known primarily as FBI Assistant Director Smith, was an Agarthan secret agent planted into the FBI and rose the the role of one of several Assistant Directors under FBI head J. Edgar Hoover.

As FBI Assistant Director Smith, Zagim attempted to cover up instances of Agarthan activities on the surface. In November 1952, he actively opposed Agent Cooper's involvement with Project AGARTHA and in December 1954 led both Operative-132 and Agent Cooper into a trap set for them by the Men from within the Earth.

Assistant Director Smith was revealed to be Zagim by Zerrath during his July 1955 confrontation with Agent Cooper.

Ted Cunningham plays Assistant Director Smith in the three Diabolical Tales movies, Kyle Stroud plays the role on the Diabolical Tales Radio Hour.

Agent Cooper's Boss
After being hired as an FBI Agent, Cooper started working under FBI Assistant Director Smith, who assigned him to details paired up with Agent Thompson. During this time, Agent Cooper came to see Assistant Director Smith as a fair and honest boss.

But in November 1952, when Agent Thompson was killed by the mysterious saboteur Zong and Cooper was stunned unconscious, Assistant Director Smith removed Agent Cooper from the case, insisting that the Bureau would assign top agents to follow up. When Agent Cooper resisted, Assistant Director Smith more forcefully ordered Cooper to remain uninvolved, but gave him a week off to recover, and promised him a top post tracking Chicago's mobster Sam Giancana when he returned. Disappointed, Agent Cooper agreed to go home.

However, unbeknownst to Assistant Director Smith, NSA Operative-132 visited Agent Cooper that night as part of the follow-up investigation and later recruited him onto Project AGARTHA.

When Smith learned of this, he confronted Agent Cooper and Operative-132 in Agent Cooper's office at FBI Headquarters. However, O-132 was able to argue Smith away, who seemed more than annoyed that Agent Cooper was still involved with the investigation. At this time, both Agent Cooper and Operative-132 considered Smith's resistance to be mostly bureaucratically benign in nature.

The Sapphire of Agartha Affair
In December 1954, Operative-132 recovered the Sapphire...

Revealing His True Identity
In July 1955,

The Top-Secret Intelligence Inquiry
In August 1955, an Intelligence Inquiry was held to determine how Zagim was able to infiltrate the US Government to easily. The results of these findings have never been made public. Additionally, it is not known how he was able to overcome the typical Agarthan aversion to any form of bright light, as he frequently went without dark-tinted glasses.

Personality and Traits
Assistant Director Smith was snotty and conniving.

Appearances

 * Diabolical Tales: Part I - Genesis of the Men From Within The Earth
 * Diabolical Tales: Part II - Vengeance of the Men From Within The Earth
 * Diabolical Tales: Part III - Betrayal of the Men From Within The Earth
 * Diabolical Tales: Part I - The Radio Drama

Behind The Scenes
Assistant Director Smith was played by Ted Cunningham in Diabolical Tales: Part I, Part II, and Part III.

Despite sharing two scenes with Mike Larose (as Operative-132) in Diabolical Tales: Part I and Diabolical Tales: Part II, Ted Cunningham and Mike Larose were never on-set at the same time and never actually met each other..