https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13136783/cia-disguise-mask-white-house-jonna-mendez.html
EXCLUSIVE My White House - Mission Impossible: How I, the first female CIA disguise division chief, deceived the Secret Service, infiltrated the Oval Office and shocked the President… by peeling off MY face
At the height of the Cold War, Jonna Mendez was chief of the CIA's disguise division – a branch of the agency charged with outfitting secret agents operating abroad.
By 1991, the department was developing remarkably life-like latex masks and Mendez was eager to deploy their sophisticated new spy technology where it was needed the most – Soviet Russia.
But first, Mendez needed to prove her deceits would work under the most perilous conditions.
So, she arranged the ultimate test.
Could she fool White House security and the President of the United States himself?
>Excerpted from 'In True Face: A Woman's Life in the CIA, Unmasked'
In 1989, our fully animated ethnic- and gender-change mask was ready for the runway.
I changed into a man's suit and donned the mask of a black male, adding matching skintight latex gloves that were precisely painted with the same skin color, including veins.
Exercises like this, if successful, provided proof of concept.
Could I convincingly change my gender? What about skin color? Could I change both at the same time?
I'd already disguised a Caucasian male field officer as an African student in a live operation, but this was new mask technology, and we were always testing new scenarios and pushing the proverbial envelope farther than we had previously.
Once I was in full disguise, I had someone accompany me to the office of Frank Anderson, our office director. I was introduced as a new contractor. Nodding, I walked to his desk but said nothing, aware that I didn't sound like a man.
Extending my hand, I shook his, which I knew would be the moment of my reveal. As soon as he felt the latex on my right hand, I peeled off the mask with my left. His eyes lit up as I transformed back into myself.
He loved it and insisted we model it for the director of the CIA, Judge William Webster.
A week later, as we entered Webster's suite of offices on the 7th floor of CIA headquarters, I was more than a little nervous.
Anderson had always been supportive of our disguise program, but I hadn't yet met Judge Webster, a former director of the FBI.
A tall, broad-shouldered executive, Anderson walked in first, followed by a 5'7' black man wearing a suit and tie.
'Sir,' Frank said, 'I would like to introduce you to…'
His voice trailed off as, again wearing the latex gloves, I stretched out my hand.
As soon as I removed the full-face mask, Judge Webster's face lit up like an enthusiastic little boy.
Astounded by the mask's ability to change ethnicity and gender, he and Frank decided we needed to show off this new capability to the President, George HW Bush.
I hesitated before speaking up but had to.
'I don't think I can wear this to the White House,' I said. 'While it is lifelike and animates well, I can't walk or talk like a black man. The Secret Service will take one look at me, ask me a question, and it will all be over.'
Anderson and Judge Webster conceded my point. We would present a female mask to the President, we decided.
Promptly dismissed from their meeting, I returned to my office and the disguise labs with a directive to prepare another mask. This wouldn't be just any mask, however. It would need to be the best mask we ever made.
Our first order of business was choosing a face. In the creation of every mask, the sculptor played a critical role. We specified gender, ethnicity, age range, sometimes even a specific identity, but ultimately the sculptor's hands shaped the final product.
At this time one of our best sculptors, a young Latina woman named Becky, was preparing to relocate to California.
(continued)