View source for Jonna Mendez


{{distinguish|Jonna Mendes}}

{{Infobox spy
|birth_name          = Jonna Hiestand
|birth_date          = {{birth year and age|1945}}
|birth_place         = [[Campbellsville, Kentucky]], U.S.
|death_date          = 
|death_place         = 
|education           = [[Wichita State University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
|spouse              = {{plainlist|
*John Goeser
*{{marriage|[[Tony Mendez]]|1991|2019|end=died}}}}
|awards              = [[Intelligence Commendation Medal]] (1993)
|allegiance          = United States
|serviceyears        = 1966–1993
}}
'''Jonna Mendez''' ([[née]] '''Hiestand'''; born 1945) is an American former technical operations officer, photo operations officer, and chief of disguise for the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA).

== Life and career ==
Jonna Hiestand was born in 1945 in [[Campbellsville, Kentucky]]. In 1963, she graduated from high school in [[Wichita, Kansas]] and went on to attend college at [[Wichita State University]]. After graduation, she worked for [[Chase Bank]] in [[Frankfurt]]. In 1966, she was recruited by the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) in Europe and started a career with them.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://www.themasterofdisguise.com/about/jonna-mendez|title=Jonna Mendez - The Master Of Disguise|work=The Master Of Disguise|access-date=October 25, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7QKfiabBlO8C&q=Jonna+Mendez&pg=PT229|title=In Disguise!: Undercover with Real Women Spies|last=Hunter|first=Ryan Ann|date=February 12, 2013|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781442467262|language=en}}</ref>

In the CIA, Mendez lived under cover and served tours of duty in Europe, the Far East, the [[Indian subcontinent|Subcontinent]], and at CIA Headquarters. In the 1970s, she joined the [[Office of Technical Service]] and worked overseas with a speciality in clandestine photography.

As a technical operations officer, Mendez also prepared the CIA's most highly placed foreign assets in the use of spy cameras and the processing of intelligence gathered by them. In this role, she also developed creative photography skills. In 1982, she was one of the few selected for a year-long leadership development program. At the program's completion, she was given a choice among some assignments and became a generalist in disguise, identity transformation, and clandestine imaging in [[South Asia|South]] and [[Southeast Asia]].

She was assigned to Denied Area Operations in 1986. This took her to the most difficult and hostile operating areas in the world, where she and her colleagues matched wits with the overwhelming forces of the KGB in Moscow, the Stasi in East Germany and the Cuban DGI.<ref name=":0"/> In 1988, she was promoted to deputy chief of the Disguise Division and in 1991, Chief of Disguise. During her tenure as Chief of Disguise, she met with President [[George H. W. Bush]] in a mask, which she removed in the meeting to demonstrate the effectiveness of the art of disguise.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.themasterofdisguise.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Jonna-at-White-House-1.jpg|title=Jonna at White House 1|last=|first=|date=7 Jan 2020|website=The Master of Disguise|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.themasterofdisguise.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Jonna-at-White-House-2.jpg|title=Jonna at White House 2|last=|first=|date=7 Jan 2020|website=The Master of Disguise|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref> In 1993, she retired and was awarded the [[Intelligence Commendation Medal|CIA's Commendation Medal]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=wp>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/let-a-former-cia-agent-tell-you-how-to-win-the-holiday-shopping-battle/2013/12/11/f6aa3840-4895-11e3-a196-3544a03c2351_story.html The Washington Post: CIA's former 'chief of disguise' has a new holiday job: 'Kids' Gift Detective' for Target]</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/17/arts/once-secret-now-display-declassified-spy-museum-opens-this-week-washington.html|title=Once Secret, And Now On Display; Declassified: A Spy Museum Opens This Week in Washington|last=Patton|first=Phil|newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 17, 2002 |access-date=October 25, 2018|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Jonna Mendez |url=https://www.spymuseum.org/host-an-event/spy-speaker-series/jonna-mendez/ |access-date=2023-03-24 |website=International Spy Museum |language=en}}</ref>

Jonna Hiestand Goeser met her future second husband, [[Tony Mendez]], also a CIA officer, while assigned to [[Bangkok]]. Tony Mendez is widely known for overseeing the joint covert [[Extraction (military)|rescue]] mission "[[Canadian Caper]]" during the [[Iran hostage crisis]] in 1979, a story that served as inspiration for the 2012 movie [[Argo (2012 film)|''Argo'']] directed by [[Ben Affleck]].<ref name="Bearman">{{cite magazine |last=Bearman |first=Joshuah |date=April 24, 2007 |title=How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans From Tehran |url=https://www.wired.com/2007/04/feat_cia/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130225103054/http://www.wired.com/magazine/2007/04/feat_cia/ |archive-date=February 25, 2013 |access-date=November 16, 2024 |magazine=Wired}}</ref> Following Mendez's retirement in 1990, he and Jonna married in 1991. They had a son together.<ref name="fnp2">{{cite news|last=Gardner|first=Karen|title=Undercover no more|url=http://www.fredericknewspost.com/archive/article_d8437357-9bd5-5e3b-bdb6-d7fdc9542998.html|accessdate=December 5, 2012|newspaper=Frederick News-Post|date=December 11, 2011}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U0eEd6Jc3koC&q=Jonna+Mendez&pg=PA303|title=Spy Dust: Two Masters of Disguise Reveal the Tools and Operations that Helped Win the Cold War|last1=Mendez|first1=Antonio|last2=Mendez|first2=Jonna|last3=Henderson|first3=Bruce|date=November 7, 2003|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9780743434584|language=en}}</ref>

==Later years==
After retiring from the CIA in 1993, Mendez and her husband<ref name="TMOD">{{cite web |url=http://www.themasterofdisguise.com/bio_Antonio.html |title=Antonio Mendez: Author of the Master of Disguise and Spy Dust |publisher=Themasterofdisguise.com |accessdate=October 6, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925071510/http://www.themasterofdisguise.com/bio_Antonio.html |archivedate=September 25, 2012 }}</ref> served on the board of directors for the [[International Spy Museum]] in Washington, D.C. They were both involved in the museum planning and design.<ref name=":1" /> She was one of the 51 former intelligence officers who signed the [[public statement on the Hunter Biden emails]], which claimed that the scandal "has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation" .<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-25 |title=New Information Shows CIA Contractors Colluded with the Biden Campaign to Discredit Hunter Biden Laptop Story |url=https://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1432|website=The Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence |language=en}}</ref>

In June 2023, Mendez was presented with the [[Daughters of the American Revolution]]'s Patriot Award by President General [[Pamela Rouse Wright]] during National Defense Night at the 132nd Continental Congress at [[DAR Constitution Hall]].<ref>{{cite web |last= Landon|first= Bren|date= June 25, 2023|title= 132nd Continental Congress Daughters of the American Revolution Convene in Washington, D.C.|url= https://www.dar.org/national-society/media-center/news-releases/132nd-continental-congress-daughters-american|website= [[Daughters of the American Revolution]]|location= [[Washington, D.C.]]|publisher= National Society Daughters of the American Revolution|access-date= August 10, 2025}}</ref>

== Works ==
* Co-author [[Tony Mendez]], [[Bruce Henderson (author)|Bruce Henderson]]; ''Spy Dust: Two Masters of Disguise Reveal the Tools and Operations that Helped Win the Cold War'' New York: Atria Books, 2003. {{ISBN|9780743428538}}, {{OCLC|54680464}}
* Co-author Antonio J Mendez; ''[[The Moscow Rules]]: the secret CIA tactics that helped America win the Cold War'', New York: PublicAffairs, 2019. {{ISBN|9781541762190}}, {{OCLC|1078953368}}
* In a 2015 lecture, Jonna Mendez explained how [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]] husband and wife KGB spies [[Karl Koecher]] and [[Hana Koecher]] used sex to infiltrate the CIA and gather top-secret information. One popular Washington, D.C., "[[Sex club|swinger's club]]" frequented by the couple counted at least 10 CIA staffers and a [[United States senator]] as members.<ref>[https://www.c-span.org/video/?324164-1/discussion-kgb-spies-1970s Sex and KGB Spies in the 1970s], [[C-Span]], (February 4, 2015).</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.themasterofdisguise.com/about/jonna-mendez Official website]
* "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD841NmJbjM Former CIA Chief of Disguise Breaks Down Cold War Spy Gadgets]," in ''WIRED'' (video).
* [https://www.ted.com/talks/jonna_mendez_the_life_and_death_theatre_of_espionage ''The life-and-death theater of espionage''] Jonna Mendez at TEDxBermuda (October 2019)
* "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boyGigccHKc Mother, Daughter, Sister, Spy]" (video of panel discussion about women in the intelligence community). Washington, DC: International Spy Museum, January 6, 2017.
*{{C-SPAN|1002772}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendez, Jonna}}
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:20th-century American women]]
[[Category:20th-century United States government officials]]
[[Category:21st-century American biographers]]
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Campbellsville, Kentucky]]
[[Category:People of the Central Intelligence Agency]]
[[Category:American special effects people]]
[[Category:Wichita State University alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Kentucky]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Jonna Mendez|access_date=2026-03-04}}