The Master of Disguise: The Real James Bond

Antonio "Tony" Mendez is the man who hatched the audacious plan to exfiltrate six American hostages out of Iran in 1979, a story told in this year's Best Picture Oscar winner, Argo. But Mendez worked for the CIA for twenty-five years, and came up with many more daring exfiltrations and operations that haven't been portrayed in film. Fortunately for us, he wrote The Master of Disguise in 1999, a dazzling memoir that presents a treasure trove of spy stories and a behind-the-scenes look at the CIA during the Cold War.

Mendez was born into rural poverty but through a series of lucky circumstances found himself in a CIA recruiting interview, where he showcased his intelligence and considerable artistic talent. After the usual rigmarole, he was hired for the CIA's Graphics team, the people who worked on painstaking forgeries of all the official documents agents needed when they were traveling abroad under aliases. He details the attention and tradecraft that goes into producing a single document, a process that begins with agents surveying immigration officials and customs inspections halfway across the world and then reporting their findings back to Headquarters. Mendez and his colleagues had to determine how much pressure to use when stamping a passport, microscopically examine stamps for intentional defects that helped distinguish forgeries from the real thing, learn how to open a letter and weave the envelope fibers together again so no one would suspect that someone else had read the contents. It's laborious but fascinating work, revealing all the effort that goes into making the papers and "pocket litter" that help an agent stay incognito in the field.

Of course, Mendez wasn't content to stay in HQ forever, and since the CIA promotes people based on merit rather than length of employment, he set to work to get himself an overseas assignment. He took a slew of courses, trying to learn everything he could about the art of working undercover, and within a few years, he and his family were shipped out to a CIA base in Okinawa. From there, Mendez traveled across Asia, helping issue fake documents for agents and defectors. Once he even created an elaborately-faked diary that was planted in the luggage of some Communist operatives who were aiming to discredit the United States with false propaganda. The diary was discovered by the appropriate authorities, found to be 100% authentic, and those operatives were no longer a threat to the USA.

Later chapters detail Mendez' work in Moscow and the CIA's cat-and-mouse games with the KGB who surveilled all Americans with ruthless efficiency. This made it almost impossible for agents to contact Soviet moles or conduct clandestine business in the Russian capital. Mendez was instrumental in coming up with a series of disguises and maneuvers that enabled agents to break surveillance and meet potential defectors, an intricate process that is much more finessed and elaborate than anything James Bond ever came up with. Not surprisingly, Mendez eventually became the CIA's Chief of Disguise and developed techniques to evade detection that are still used by agents today.

The Master of Disguise is a gripping read, much more compelling than a spy novel simply because it's all true. The minutiae of spy work might seem dull, but Mendez does an excellent job of relating it to the bigger picture and illustrating how everything truly hinges on the details. The chapter on the Argo operation reveals how this audacious plan really came down to information-gathering, impeccable forgeries, artful disguise, and finally, having luck on your side. Mendez had a perfect record of exfiltrations, and despite some harrowing situations, he never left someone behind. So if you are seeking an intriguing insight into the real world of spy craft as told by one of the CIA's most respected officers, you need to read this book.