Who is Thomas R. and Sybille Webster from The Tears of Autumn and what is their importance?

Tom Webster is Paul Christopher's Paris-based case officer in the Agency (probably the CIA). Quick-witted, phlegmatic, neither fluent in French nor good at using phone codes, and slightly deaf, Tom is good at forming and using friends. He learned Arabic in his youth and in his twenties saves a Middle Eastern monarch's throne. Nothing surprises Tom or touches his emotions. Short and muscular, a former shot putter at Yale, Tom wears outdated clothes, is homely, and has no luck with women