Mendez, Antonio J.
"A Classic Case of Deception." Studies in Intelligence
(Winter 1999-2000): 1-16. Mendez, Antonio J.
"A Classic Case of Deception." Studies in Intelligence
(Winter 1999-2000): 1-16.
This is a marvelously detailed -- although still circumspect -- account from someone well situated to tell the story of the operation to exfiltrate six U.S. State Department personnel from Tehran in the wake of the Iranians' seizure of the U.S. Embassy. It offers between-the-lines insight into one aspect of the work of the CIA's Office of Technical Services.
Ample and respectful credit is given to the Canadians for their central role in, first, protecting the Americans and, later, in facilitating the exfiltration effort.
Two aspects that clearly come through in Mendez' account is the enormous need for all types of general and specific information in planning such an operation and the many things, human and otherwise, that can go wrong even when activities are in the hands of professionals.
Pelletier,
Jean, and Claude Adams. The Canadian Caper. New York: Morrow, 1981.
The Canadian Embassy helped smuggle six U.S. diplomats disguised as Canadians out of Tehran in January 1980 after the Iranian takeover of the U.S. Embassy the previous November.
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