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Welcome to SpyC, the official podcast of the International Spy Museum.

I'm your host, Sasha Inber, and we're wrapping up

Camouflage Month, highlighting our new camo exhibit, an exploration of the world of disguise,

deception, distortion, and disappearance. So here we are in the last episode of our series.

Jana Mendez knows how to blend in. She also knows how to make a spectacle. Starting out as a

secretary at the CIA, she left as its chief of disguise. Her career took her into denied areas, where her special

abilities assisted in a variety of high-stakes operations, collecting on the adversary,

recruiting and exfiltrating agents, and staying on the cutting edge of technology.

She sat down with me to share stories, many of which

she has never shared before. Hey, Jana, welcome to Spycast. Thanks. It's great to be here.

So let's talk about Iran. All eyes are on Iran right now. And in the early days of the Islamic Republic, right after the Shah was overthrown, you did something that you haven't shared before.

And that is making two shaws.

It was an unusual solution to an unusual problem. My office was called Office of Technical

Service. We were the technical arm of the CIA to make the gadgets or the tools that our case

officers needed to accomplish their jobs. We were basically creative problem solvers.

And they would come and say, you know, I need a disguise.

And say, sit down, let's talk a minute.

Maybe you don't need a disguise.

Maybe you need something else.

Always trying to find the best answer for a problem.

And, of course, at the beginning of the Iranian scenario that went on, what, 40-some years ago,

...