In the premiere of Season 3, we speak to the incredible former CIA Chief of Disguise, Jonna Mendez about how to build and operate under a fake identity, about CIA covert photography, and about the roles she and her late husband Tony Mendez played in various historic intelligence successes, including the “Argo” rescue of 6 US diplomats from post-revolution Iran. Jonna shares how she was recruited into the CIA in 1966, where she lived and worked undercover in multiple countries across Europe and Asia. Jonna’s work included denied area operations in complex and high risk locations such as Moscow, East Germany, and Cuba. During her 25 years experience with the CIA, Jonna was awarded the agency’s Intelligence Commendation Medal, and she is a founding member of the Board of Advisors at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. With her late husband, Tony Mendez, Jonna is the best-selling co-author of Argo, The Moscow Rules, and Spy Dust. Her latest book, In True Face, recounts how determination (and some good fortune) helped her build her incredible career in the face of limited opportunities and misogynistic expectations when it came to women in front line intelligence work.
Listen on Apple Podcasts / Spotify, by RSS feed, on Youtube, or right here:
How to Fake Your Identity – How to get on a Watchlist
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Books and media mentioned during the episode, and suggestions for further research on this topic:
- Argo (Jonna Mendez)
- The Moscow Rules (Jonna Mendez)
- Spy Dust (Jonna Mendez)
- In True Face (Jonna Mendez)
Additional reading suggestions can be found on our 2024 geopolitical reading list.
Purchases made using the links in this article earn referrals for Encyclopedia Geopolitica. As an independent publication, our writers are volunteers from within the professional geopolitical intelligence community, and referrals like this support future articles.
The hosts:
Lewis Sage-Passant is a researcher in the field of intelligence and espionage, and a former British Military Intelligence Officer. Lewis holds a PhD from Loughborough University in intelligence studies, and is an adjunct professor in intelligence at Sciences Po Paris. He has extensive experience working and living in the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions in a variety of geopolitical analysis and intelligence roles, supporting the energy industry, the financial sector, leading technology firms, and the pharmaceuticals sector. He has appeared in numerous media outlets, including the BBC, France24, CNBC, Harvard Business Review, The New Arab, El Mundo, GQ, and others, discussing intelligence, geopolitics, and security topics.
Aleksandra Szylkiewicz is co-editor of Encyclopedia Geopolitica and a multilingual security and intelligence professional, with a Master’s in International Security from Sciences Po Paris. Aleksandra has served in both consulting and in-house roles, bridging the gap between analysis and operations, and focussing on threat identification and monitoring, geopolitical intelligence and strategy, and security support to various public and private audiences.
The production team:
Producer: Edwin Tran
Additional credit goes to several unnamed members of the Encyclopedia Geopolitica team, as well as our colleagues in the intelligence and security community who helped to make this podcast possible.
If you liked this episode, don’t forget to sign up to our mailing list and subscribe on your podcast platform of choice. Please also consider supporting our work via Patreon. While the topics we discuss here are often shrouded in secrecy and security classifications, we really hope you’ll tell your friends about us!
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