[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] 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. 
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