While Dooley was providing medical care to Lao refugees, he also collected intelligence for the CIA, tracking civilian movements, and he provided cover for US Special Forces medics who posed as civilian doctors. Dennis Shephard, a physician who worked with him, claimed that he would round up as many of his former patients as he could whenever potential sponsors came to tour the Vientiane clinic, giving the impression that he had a full and active clinic. Shephard remembered local CIA officers coming by often to find out if Dooley had picked up anything about the movement of Chinese troops, as well as to ensure that the weapons he had brought up with his medical supplies were well-hidden and secure. Shephard helped him establish a clinic at Vang Vieng; His obituary records that he was a guest when he was featured on This Is Your Life and that he traveled with him "from village to village, where they treated illness and injuries, and taught Laotians about sanitation and medication."