Wouldn’t you like to know more about spies and espionage? Jonna Mendez, author of Master of Disguise, will pull back the curtain on these topics, based on her 27 years with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Rising through the ranks to become Chief of Disguise in the CIA’s Office of Technical Service, Mendez was also a specialist in clandestine photography. Assignments took her to the most difficult, hostile areas in the world, where she and her colleagues matched wits with the forces of the KGB in Moscow, the Stasi in East Germany and the Cuban DGI. During her tenure as Chief of Disguise, she met with President George H.W. Bush in a mask, which she removed during the meeting to demonstrate the effectiveness of the art of disguise. In 1993, she retired and was awarded the CIA’s Commendation Medal.
She is currently an author, lecturer, teacher and consultant on intelligence matters. She has co-written several books with her late husband Antonio Mendez, including Spy Dust: A True Story of Espionage and Romance, Argo and The Moscow Rules. Her latest book, In True Face, recounts the drama of Mendez’s high-stakes work as well as how she parlayed her “everywoman” appeal into incredible subterfuge. Grit and good fortune are part of what it took to stay alive in a misogynistic world.