Joaquin Hawks is an agent for the CIA.
He is the highly intelligent and resourceful product of a Nez Perce Indian father and a Spanish mother. Because of that parentage, Hawks' complexion is a bronze hue. That, coupled with a thin, high-bridge nose, lean face, ebony hair, and dark eyes give him a natural edge in disguise as he is able to, with relatively minor makeup, pass as any number of different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds, including European Caucasian, Filipino worker, and Mongol heavy laborer. This talent is used to good end throughout all his adventures.
Hawks is employed by the CIA, working out of a L.A. branch office, working for a task master but Hawks' friend, Berke. Being based on the West Coast, it is easier to concentrate most of his energies in the Indochina region, all during the intial build-up to the Vietnam War. As such, it is absolutely fascinating to see the attitudes of the characters about the U.S. and each other and to consider how different they would be in just a few years.
When he is not on assignment, Hawks maintains his cover as a one-man travel agent in Los Angeles, leading tour groups into Mexico or Central and South America. When he is not working as either kind of agent, he often returns to his roots on the home of his native people in Lapwei Reservation, Idaho. It was there that Hawks learned from a little boy the secrets of tracking, stalking, and hunting any type of prey from little animal to man. While he maintains he is nowhere near as good as his teacher, he is certainly one of the very best in the Intelligence community.