Intelligence

Chatter: Spy Disguises in Fact and Fiction with Jonna Mendez

David Priess, Jonna Mendez
Thursday, March 7, 2024, 9:00 AM
Discussing spy craft with Jonna Mendez
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Jonna Mendez advanced in her Central Intelligence Agency career to become Chief of Disguise despite the many institutional challenges to women's promotions. And now she has written a memoir, In True Face, about it all.

David Priess spoke with Jonna about career options for women at CIA in the early Cold War, her own start there in the 1960s, how photography classes set her on a path that ultimately led to service as Chief of Disguise, her interactions over the decades with Tony Mendez, the tandem-couple problem for intelligence professionals, semi-animated mask technology and other CIA disguises, her experience briefing President George H. W. Bush in the Oval Office, how the story behind the Canadian Caper became declassified and eventually the movie Argo, the International Spy Museum, and more.

Among the works mentioned in this episode:

Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.

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David Priess

David Priess

davidpriess
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David Priess is Director of Intelligence at Bedrock Learning, Inc. and a Senior Fellow at the Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security. He served during the Clinton and Bush 43 administrations as a CIA officer and has written two books: “The President’s Book of Secrets,” about the top-secret President’s Daily Brief, and "How To Get Rid of a President," describing the ways American presidents have left office.
Jonna Mendez

Jonna Mendez

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Jonna Mendez, a former CIA officer, is a writer and speaker with 27 years of service in the Office of Technical Service, the CIA’s equivalent of “Q” in the British service. She retired as the CIA’s chief of disguise and together with her husband Antonio Mendez has co-written a number of books on intelligence. Their most recent book is “The Moscow Rules,” detailing the extraordinary measures the CIA takes when working in the most difficult city in the world for intelligence collection.

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