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The Former Chief of Disguise of the CIA Explains How Spies Use Disguises

posted by Jason Kottke   Nov 07, 2018

In this video, Jonna Mendez, the former Chief of Disguise of the CIA, explains how disgu — Wait, wait, wait...Chief of Disguise!! That is an actual job title!?! WHAT! Ok, back to the post... — explains how disguises are used in the CIA.

With women, you have a broader range of what you can do. You also have one extra step: you can turn a woman into a man. I would mention that it's almost impossible to turn a man into a woman. What we do is always additive — we can make you taller, we can make you heavier, we can make you older — we can't go the other direction. You want to be the person that gets on the elevator and then gets off and nobody even remembers that you were really there. That is a design goal at the disguise labs at CIA.

Interesting throughout. As a fan of the disguises on The Americans and as someone who got to wear some bitchin' makeup for a short extra appearance on Halt and Catch Fire, I really enjoyed this video, but now I'm wondering what my "dead giveaway" mannerisms are. Friends, any thoughts?