Escape-room challenges are popular among fans of spy thrillers, but what if your life actually depended on the result? This series shares tales and tactics of memorable escapes, rescues, and evasions from the 1970s through today. Explore ingenious rescue and escape plans with the people who developed them and used them, as well as experts familiar with these life-or-death operations. Discover how intelligence services bring back assets from abroad in a hot or Cold War and learn about the 21st-century approach to training people in self-escape and surviving a rescue.
FEATURED SESSION
RAPTOR Takes Flight
Tony Mendez is famous for the rescue of six stranded American diplomats depicted in the film Argo, but that was not his only delicate operation in Iran in 1979. He and Jonna Mendez share the extraordinary exfiltration story of the CIA’s top source in the country. An agent code-named RAPTOR had served in the Shah’s armed services, and that close connection had provided the CIA with extraordinary intelligence. When Khomeini took over, he went into hiding and was in grave danger. Hear how Mendez travelled to Iran in the tumultuous spring of 1979 and got RAPTOR out before the Revolutionary Guard could find him.
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