How 'womanizing' star CIA agent who infiltrated Al-Qaeda and was paraded in front of President Bush wound up dead in a Malaysian hotel room

When undercover CIA agent 'Anthony Lagunas' was granted an audience with President George W. Bush, it should have been a moment of utmost pride for the star operative.

It is an honor rarely bestowed upon rank-and-file spooks, but one that was handed to Lagunas - not his real name - in recognition for the extraordinary lengths he went to infiltrate murderous Al Qaeda cells in the wake of 9/11.

Instead, the notorious 'womanizer' seemed detached, disillusioned, and only cared about whether he got to 'sit next to a hot girl on the flight over,' former colleagues told Rolling Stone.

Looking back, agents believe Lagunas' ambivalence was one of the first signs that he was beginning to lose his bearings - desensitized by his years in the field, pushed to his limits by his handlers.

It was the start, they said, of his ultimately tragic struggle with PTSD and depression, which culminated in his death in mysterious circumstances in a hotel room in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Deep undercover CIA agent 'Anthony Lagunas' was a star operative during the post 9/11 War on Terror as spies were sent to embed themselves in jihadi terror groups. Pictured: Fighters from Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front drive in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo flying Islamist flags as they head to a frontline, on May 26, 2015.

Lagunas was one of a new wave of CIA operatives who were sent to bed down with radical Islam in the wake of 9/11.

His legacy has divided opinion. Hailed as a 'hero' by some, but dismissed by others as a man who spent his time 'f****** around', 'smoking and joking', 'chasing women'.

But most who knew him say his sad demise is now a 'cautionary tale' of the strains faced by undercover CIA ops, who, if they are not killed by the enemy they are supposed to befriend, are left in the hands of their innermost demons.

More than two dozen former CIA officials spoke under condition of anonymity to unravel an extraordinary story and ask whether what was really accomplished at the cost of a man's life.

Lagunas lived undercover for around five years in the Middle East as an Islamic radical, burrowing into extremist groups while sporting a trademark bushy beard and needled scar on one arm from an old barracuda bite.

He was one of the first batch of deep-cover operatives who the CIA threw into the arms of terrorists as part of an epochal shift in strategy post 9/11.

Instead of skulking around stealing secrets from foreign governments, the security services realized they needed to get their operations 'out of embassy' in order to infiltrate terrorist groups.

Lagunas was just a trainee at the agency when the plane hit the towers.

But swiftly after the attacks, he and a few others were whisked away from the CIA's normal training program.

At first, others within the agency weren't sure whether he had been transferred to an ultra-secret initiative or just kicked out of the agency altogether.

'It was 50-50,' a former agency official told Rolling Stone.

Back then, Lagunas was known as something of a wild man, he said. A heavy drinker, he was 'a bit of a womanizer — a lot of a womanizer,' the former official recalled.

Lagunas did speak some Arabic, but it was perhaps his unique, personal qualities that his superiors were interested in.

President George W. Bush speaks as former director of the National Security Agency Gen. Michael Hayden looks on during a personnel announcement May 8, 2006 in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. Both men were integral in spearheading America's War on Terror in the aftermath of 9/11

'He had the ability to detach' from himself, recalled another former senior agency official.

'I don't want to say it's a split personality, or something like that. But the ability to detach one reality and to adopt a second reality to the point where you're not acting it, but you are it, that's a skill set that can't be taught.'

Lagunas' ability to dissociate was 'extraordinary,' the former official added. But his strength was also his weakness. It also became the root of his struggle to define where his undercover persona ended and his real life began, as he delved deeper into the world of jihadist terror.

It is unclear exactly where Lagunas spent much of his time, but for at least part of his mission he was based in a madrassa in Cairo, as well as Saudi Arabia, studying the Koran.

He wasn't the only undercover agent burrowed into radical Islam, but he remained undercover for longer and with fewer breaks, according to former officials.

Lagunas also looked the part.

He 'looked like something out of Hollywood central casting,' recalled a former senior agency official.

'An Arabic-speaking Salafist with a 'killer beard,' decked out in traditional garb, an all-American Midwestern white boy turned jihadi,' wrote Rolling Stone.

But however much he embraced the role, there is no consensus on whether the intelligence he garnered was actually useful.

One sector of the CIA felt the only information of any use was that could lead them to capturing or killing Al Qaeda leadership and other terrorist operatives.

To them, the 'legend' of Lagunas derived partly from the 'fact that he was a white guy' living deep undercover as a Muslim radical, rather than from any actual intelligence he discovered.

Lagunas was just CIA showboating, said another former official. 'They had a map of the globe with push pins for where people were deployed, and that was one of their big, proud briefing moments of 'Look where we've put people,' the former agency official told Rolling Stone. 'Oh, we've got a guy in the Maldives? Why?' 'I don't know, but we've got a guy in the Maldives.'

'Lagunas'' legacy has divided opinion. Hailed as a 'hero' by some, but dismissed by others as a man who spent his time 'f****** around', 'smoking and joking', 'chasing women'

According to four former officials, Lagunas did infiltrate Al Qaeda, but only its broader network, not its leadership.

Three other former officials said that while Lagunas did indeed work his way into radical Islamist circles, he never actually penetrated Al Qaeda.

Some CIA sources, however, said his achievements were truly impressive.

'He was very, very talented and very adept at being able to acquire information that was incredibly helpful to the U.S. government,' said another former senior official.

The details of what he provided are unknown, with former agency officials refusing to divulge specifics.

Ultimately, his work took its toll.

Former colleagues said the CIA would never take proactive measures to protect agents like Lagunas. 'They're never going to say 'stop' on your behalf,' one said.

Increasingly, Lagunas appeared unable to distinguish between his undercover life and his own.

The warning signs were not only in his disinterested reaction to his audience with the President, and in the late 2000s, CIA officials decided it was time to bring him home.

But this only appeared to make matters worse.

Former colleagues said the CIA would never take proactive measures to protect agents like Lagunas. Pictured: View of the main entrance of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia

Lagunas was given a domestic job in Los Angeles. He was still operating as a deep-cover intelligence officer, but this time in the entertainment industry.

It is not clear what work he did in Hollywood, but former colleagues said he was 'never the same' after returning stateside.

Although they weren't aware of the details of his overseas posting, they knew 'it was heavy, he got into some shit, it was bad, it was rough on him, [and] he was all fucked up,' said one former official.

He 'came in from the cold to no reception,' said another. 'Oh, you did what? Well, that's great. Make sure you log in at nine, buddy.'

In the fall of 2016, colleagues received news that Lagunas had died suddenly in a hotel room in Kuala Lumpur.

The circumstances are murky.

Drug and alcohol abuse likely contributed, Rolling Stone reported, as did extreme depression and PTSD.

It was 'stress [that] translated to cause of death,' said a former official. 'The stress of life, what he went through.'

'Without commenting on claims specific to any individual, with regard to our workforce, CIA takes the mental, physical, and professional health of our officers very seriously, and in recent years has significantly expanded the resources available to our workforce,' a CIA spokesman told Rolling Stone.

'We have no higher obligation than to ensure the safety and well-being of our workforce.'