Tony Mendez

For other uses, seeAntonio Mendez (disambiguation)andTony Mendes.

Tony Mendez
Mendez after theCanadian Caper(1980)
Born	Antonio Joseph Mendez (1940-11-15)November 15, 1940 Eureka, Nevada,U.S.
Died	January 19, 2019(2019-01-19)(aged 78) Frederick, Maryland,U.S.
Alma mater	University of Colorado
Spouses	Karen Mendez (died 1986) Jonna Mendez ​ (m.1991)​
Awards	Intelligence Star(1980) CIA Trailblazer Award (1997) Order of the Sphinx (2000) Honorary Doctorate (2016) University of Colorado, Boulder
Espionage activity
Allegiance	United States
Agency	CIA
Service years	1963–1990
Rank	Technical Operations Officer, SIS-2
Operations	Canadian Caper

Antonio Joseph Mendez(November 15, 1940 – January 19, 2019) was an American technical operations officer for theCentral Intelligence Agency(CIA), who specialized in support of clandestine and covert CIA operations. He wrote four memoirs about his CIA experiences.

Mendez was decorated, and is now widely known, for his on-the-scene management of the "Canadian Caper"during theIran hostage crisis.He exfiltrated six American diplomats fromIranin January 1980 by arranging to have them pose as a Canadian film crew. As part of their cover, the diplomats carried passports issued by theCanadian governmentto document them as Canadian citizens.

After declassification of records, the full details of the operation were reported in a 2007 article byJoshuah BearmaninWiredmagazine.This was loosely adapted for the screenplay and development of the 2012Academy Award-winning filmArgo,directed byBen Affleck,who also starred as Mendez. Mendez attended the70th Golden Globe Awardsto give a speech about the film, where it was nominated for (and later won)Best Motion Picture – Drama.

Early life and education

Mendez was born inEureka, Nevada,in 1940 to John George Mendez and Neva June Tognoni.He attended localpublic schools.His father was of Mexican descent, and his mother had Italian and French ancestry.In an interview byOpen Your Eyesmagazine, Mendez said that his father died when he was quite young. As he never really learned to speak Spanish and was cut off from his father'sMexican-Americanculture, he did not identify as Hispanic.

When Mendez was a teen, his family moved toColorado.After graduating from Englewood high school, he studied art at theUniversity of Colorado.

Career

Mendez continued to work as an artist after college. He first worked as an illustrator and tool designer forMartin Marietta,a large aerospace firm.In 1965, Mendez answered a blind advertisement for a graphic artist. He was hired by theCIAand became an espionage artist for theTechnical Services Division,where he specialized inidentity document forgeryand creating disguises.He worked as an officer in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, and served in the CIA for 25 years.

In 1980, in what became known as theCanadian Caper,Mendez travelled toIranto rescue six American diplomats who had taken refuge at the Canadian embassy, after the United States embassy was overrun in the disruption related to the overthrow of the government.Mendez was part of a strategy to exfiltrate the diplomats by passing them off as a Canadian film crew, having received passports and supporting documents from the Canadian Government to identify them as such.He was awarded theIntelligence Staron March 12, 1980, for his efforts in leading the rescue mission.

Marriage and family

Mendez and his first wife, Karen, had three children together. Karen Mendez died of cancer in 1986.Their son Ian died in 2010. Their sonAntonio Tobias Mendezbecame a sculptor.

In the mid-1980s, Mendez worked withJonna Hiestand Goeser,also a CIA officer, on rebuilding the U.S. security organization in theSoviet Unionand laterRussia.Following Mendez's retirement in 1990, they married in 1991. They had a son together.

Later years and death

After retiring from the CIA in 1990, Mendez and his wife Jonna, herself a 27-year veteran of the CIA,served on the board of directors of theInternational Spy Museumin Washington, D.C. He also worked as an artist.

Mendez wrote four non-fiction memoirs, two with his wife including:

• Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA(1999), with Malcolm McConnell, a memoir of his CIA experiences
• Spy Dust: Two Masters of Disguise Reveal the Tools and Operations that Helped Win the Cold War(2003), with Jonna Mendez andBruce Henderson.
• Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History(2012), with Matt Baglio, a more lengthy account of the Canadian Caper.
• The Moscow Rules: The Secret CIA Tactics That Helped America Win the Cold War(2019), with Jonna Mendez.

His first book was lauded in 2002 by John Hollister Hedley, former Chairman of the CIA's Publications Review Board, as one of three "landmark memoirs" by former CIA officers.

Mendez was interviewed by film directorErrol Morrisfor theFirst PersonTV series. He appeared in the season one episode 11, "The Little Gray Man."

In 2009, Mendez was diagnosed withParkinson's disease.He died on January 19, 2019, from complications of Parkinson's disease. He was 78.

Representation in other media

In the first decade of the 21st century, records related to the Canadian Caper were declassified. JournalistJoshuah Bearmanwrote a full article about this in the April 2007 issue ofWiredmagazine.

Bearman's account was loosely adapted for the screenplay and development of the feature filmArgo(2012). It was directed byBen Affleck,who also starred as Mendez. The film won theAcademy Award for Best Picture.When interviewed in 2013 byShowBizCafe,Mendez was asked how he felt about being portrayed by Ben Affleck, who is non-Hispanic. Mendez noted that losing his father when he was young meant he did not learn Spanish nor much of his father's culture. He said, "I don't think of myself as a Hispanic. I think of myself as a person who grew up in the desert."

External links

• "Review ofMaster of Disguise",Studies in Intelligencev. 46 No. 1 (2002)
• A Classic Case of DeceptionMendez on the background of theCanadian Caper,Studies in Intelligence,Winter 1999–2000
• "Tony Mendez, clandestine CIA hero of Ben Affleck's 'Argo,' reveals the real story behind film smash".The Washington Times.October 10, 2012.