Spy Stuff: R.I.P., Tony Mendez

Tony Mendez, who worked for the CIA for 25 years and was portrayed in the movie Argo, died on January 19 at the age of 78. The nation benefitted from this brave American, and is less for his loss.

As CNN.com reported:

In 2012, Mendez told CNN he was the head of the CIA's authentication branch in 1979. They set up fake identities for CIA officers and sneaked people out of foreign countries.
 "So I had an actual staff who specialized in exfiltrations. And we would be working on preparedness worldwide, prepared to handle the walk-in, for instance, that would knock on your door at midnight and say I want to defect," he said.
 When militants took over the US embassy in Tehran in November 1979, they captured 66 people but six escaped and ended up taking shelter with Canadian diplomats.
 Mendez devised a plan to create a fictitious science fiction movie called "Argo" that would be filmed in Tehran. Canada agreed to give passports to the six Americans.
 In January, Mendez and others flew to Tehran under the guise of scouting locations for the movie. Mendez guided the Americans who were on the run through immigration at the airport.
"We always say there's nothing as lovely as the feeling of wheels up. In this case we were still in Iranian airspace for awhile, so everybody was holding their breath until we were out of Iran completely. And then we had a celebration," he told CNN.

Actor and director Ben Affleck, who portrayed Mendez in Argo, declared: “Tony Mendez was a true American hero. He was a man of extraordinary grace, decency, humility and kindness. He never sought the spotlight for his actions, he merely sought to serve his country. I’m so proud to have worked for him and to have told one of his stories.”

CNN also noted that Mendez had just completed his last book -The Moscow Rules: The Secret CIA Tactics that Helped America Win the Cold War – written with his wife, Jonna Mendez. I certainly will be reading. In fact, I already have pre-ordered it from Amazon.com.

R.I.P., Tony Mendez.

- Ray Keating

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