"Most
people who meet Jonna Mendez don't see her as a spy
and that's exactly the way she likes it. A good spy,
she says, would never be as ostentatious as James Bond
in a casino surrounded by beautiful women or Jack Ryan
slipping his CIA business card to a Colombian drug lord."
>>more
"Framed
by the unparalleled insight of retired CIA "master
spies" Tony and Jonna Mendez, "SpyCatchers"
looks at the old and new worlds of espionage, revealing
the mistakes and successes of the past while delving
into the updated ways new spies are trained." >>synopsis >>transcript
"KNOXVILLE,
Md. –– The master of disguise steps
back from his subject, and cocks his head to one
side. He's just applied spirit gum to the upper
lip and cheeks of the man on the stool before
him. Then he stuck on a false beard and grotesque
nose, drew in wrinkles and veins and transformed
the scrubbed face even further with a gross mole,
gold tooth and eyeglasses." >>read
more
"At
the International Spy Museum, kids learn that even
subtle changes in expression (furrowed brow) or
clothing (lowered cap) can change their whole look.
As they move through the museum's five permanent
exhibits, youngsters can also see the fake hair
and face-altering makeup that help spies fashion
new identities for themselves." >>read
more
"We
needed to find a way to rescue six Americans with
no intelligence background, and we would have to coordinate
a sensitive plan of action with another US Government
department and with senior policymakers in the US
and Canadian administrations. The stakes were high.
A failed exfiltration operation would receive immediate
worldwide attention and would seriously embarrass
the US, its President, and the CIA." >>read
more
"Canada
to the Rescue" - TIME Magazine, February 11,
1980
"...The
cunning maneuver executed by Canadian diplomats in secreting
six Americans in hostile Tehran for almost three months
and then spiriting them to safety last week provided a
heartening interlude in Washington's still unsuccessful
struggle to free 50 hostages from their captors in chaotic
Iran...The escapees had been warned by the State Department
not to disclose details about how they had been hidden
and how they had escaped. This was to protect any foreigners,
as well as Iranians, who had been helpful but still remained
in Iran...Despite the secrecy, the available facts provided
a fascinating tale of intrigue, involving CIA-doctored
documents and bold "rehearsals" in Tehran on how to slip
the Americans past Iranian airport inspectors..."
(excerpt)
"They
"trailblazed" the CIA's spy game" - The Philadelphia
Inquirer - September 17, 1997
"...The
CIA's trailblazers are people of many stripes. Among those
being honored are the late Allen W. Dulles, the legendary
World War II spymaster who went on to head the CIA until
the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961; Arthur C. Lundahl, the
photo intelligence expert who told President John F. Kennedy
the Russians were putting missiles into Cuba; and Robert
C. Ames, the Philadelphia-born and LaSale-educated Middle
East expert killed in the 1983 terrorist bombing of the
U.S. Embassy in Beirut." "...In
some cases, the challenges seemed almost insurmountable.
Mendez told of an instance from the 1970s in which a defector
in south Asian country showed up with his wife and child
to be exfiltrated. The dilemma was that the man had no
fingers. But Mendez said he knew the local emigration
officials were illiterate. So he used a pair of scissors
to fashion a bogus travel visa. As for the man's fingers?
"All he had to do was keep his hands in his pockets and
let his wife lay down the documents, he said. It was "the
obvious thing, which is the simple thing..."
(excerpt)
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