Valentine 'Val' Easton is an agent with American Intelligence.
Val Easton is described in one spot as "harmless looking, seldom hurried, amiable. His slender figure was not one to attract attention. Few people were aware that behind that amiable face was the full power of the American Intelligence Service, sometimes loosely called the Secret Service".
Easton answers to a man named Gregg, call by Easton as the Chief, described as a "heavy-set saturnine man who stood at the right elbow of the State Department, as unknown and overlooked by the public as the actions of that subtle force which he controlled".
Easton has had a good number of cases before we first encounter him but in all the handful of stories which have been recorded for us to enjoy, he has as his adversary the same extremely difficult-to-kill individual, the notorious freelance spy Cark Zaken, known throughout the clandestine world as the Black Doctor. This "vaguely eastern European" shadowy operative is often partnered with Chang Ch'ien, a Chinese mastermind who is devilishly clever and deadly. It is easy to see how these two would work well together, both having the destruction of the West as their primary objectives. [Should that have happened, it is interesting to wonder how long the partnership would have lasted. My money is on Ch'ien.]
Ch'ien has a gorgeous sister named Tai Shan who is every bit as sinister, though far more lovely, as her brother. Should those two ever have a serious squabble, my money would go on her.