Bernie Dingledorf is an agent of ... well, we don't know!
That's right, we do not know who Dingledorf works as an agent for and neither really does he. He knows it is the government because they pretty much told him and government people don't tell fibs. But exactly who they are is something that Dingledorf does not know.
Which is sorta fair when you consider that they don't know who Dingledorf is, either.
Okay, they know he is Dingledorf. They just think he is Ralph Dingledorf and Ralph is the country's best secret agent and since he is a master of disguise and can make himself look like just about anyone and anything, Bernie Dingledorf could be Ralph Dingledorf and how would we know? The world was in trouble - again - and the great secret agent Ralph Dingledorf was needed and the computers and stuff the government has pointed them to Bernie Dindledorfand now you know!
Dingledorf attends, when he is not out doing secret agent stuff, a student in Mrs. Hooplesnort's fourth-grade class. That is what he was doing when we meet him in the first recorded adventure. Actually, he was coming home from school when the helicopter swooped in and snatched him and his overweight dog, Splat, and hauled them both off the Headquarters. Dingledorf and Splat had no idea where they were headed at the time since, as I said, Dingledorf was just a 4th-grader and Splat was just a dog.
It was at HQ that Dingledorf learns of the whole Ralph/Bernie confusion and he learns that he is expected to once again (for Ralph - first time for Bernie) save the world! Bernie kinda whimpered at that - "we're not exactly the brave type", Dingledorf tells us. Brave or not, Dingledorf does manage to save the world and since Ralph never showed up and Bernie got the job done, you can imagine who they come calling for from then on!
I want to take a moment to point out that the adventures which we have been allowed to read all mention they are about "Secret Agent Dindledorf and his trusty dog SPLAT". I do not use that long title because it is, um, long, but I want you to know that I know that it is there.
Dingledorf is a pretty normal kid - other than his being asked to be a secret government agent. He is a tall, lanky kid who enjoys wearing baggy pants and a long-sleeve tee-shirt (both always wrinkled, of course) and the ever present white baseball cap, brim cocked to the right about 10 degrees. And sneakers, naturally. Of course, once he starts doing the secret agent stuff, some of these get some pretty nifty enhancements with secret agent gadgets and such. Risking his life saving the world all the time is kinda not so cool but that gadgets are.
Dingledorf has as his best friend and confident fellow student LQ (not his full name, of course, but that's what we know). The first thing we learn about I.Q. is he is not very good at sports "Unless the sport involves turning on the computer, reading a billion books, or finding the cure for cancer". I.Q. is pretty smart.
He also has as friend, but not as close because she's a girl, Priscilla. since Dingledorf is just ten and hasn't learned yet that girls can be interesting. She's important because she is very handy when it comes to kicking butt as she "has a black belt in karate, kung fu, and egg-fu-yung". That makes her cool in Dingledor's mind.
Neither of these two are secret agents like Dingledorf but they both know he is now one, which Dingledorf likes because the whole 'secret' part of 'secret agent' is not a lot of fun.