Jonna Mendez is a former Chief of Disguise with 25+ years in the CIA. Her husband was the recently-departed Tony Mendez of ARGO fame (played by Ben Affleck in the film of the same name) and one of the most celebrated officers in CIA history. They wrote this book together, THE MOSCOW RULES: Tactics That Helped America Win the Cold War (on sale May 21), outlining what are now known as the "Moscow rules". new spying tactics they helped create in the paranoid, surveillance-ridden Moscow during the height of the Cold War. Their development of these methods (including Hollywood-type disguises and magic tricks) would revolutionize how the CIA carried out their missions for years to come.
This might sound familiar a la "The Americans". except think of Tony and Jonna as spies on the other side of that coin. (We've even received praise from the creator of the show Joe Weisberg).
From the spymaster and inspiration for the movie Argo: how a group of brilliant but under-supported CIA operatives developed breakthrough spy tactics that helped turn the tide of the Cold War Antonio Mendez and his future wife Jonna were CIA operatives working to spy on Moscow in the late 1970s, at one of the most dangerous moments in the Cold War. Soviets kept files on all foreigners, studied their patterns, and tapped their phones. Intelligence work was effectively impossible. The Soviet threat loomed larger than ever.
The Moscow Rules tells the story of the intelligence breakthroughs that turned the odds in America's favor. As experts in disguise, Antonio and Jonna were instrumental in developing a series of tactics--Hollywood-inspired identity swaps, ingenious evasion techniques, and an armory of James Bond-style gadgets--that allowed CIA officers to outmaneuver the KGB.
As Russia again rises in opposition to America, this remarkable story is a tribute to those who risked everything for their country, and to the ingenuity that allowed them to succeed.