He was a secret partner who helped rescue six American diplomats in 1980 by passing them off as a film crew. The caper inspired the movie “Argo.”
Gift NYT article here. (Hopefully no "provide-email- to-read" nonsense like WaPo)
Edward B. Johnson, right, receiving the C.I.A.’s Intelligence Star, its second-highest award, from John N. McMahon, the agency’s deputy director for operations. Mr. Johnson had taken part in a daring rescue of Americans from Tehran in 1980.
Credit...Family of Edward B. Johnson/CIA, via Associated Press
Edward B. Johnson, who as an anonymous C.I.A. officer in 1980 helped rescue six American diplomats during the Iran hostage crisis by casting them as a Hollywood crew scouting a Mideast location — an audacious escape that itself became grist for an Oscar-winning movie — died on Aug. 27 at his home in Fairfax, Va. He was 81.
Documents detailing the Iran rescue were declassified by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1997, and another C.I.A. officer, Antonio J. Mendez, who had masterminded the scheme and recruited Mr. Johnson, wrote a book about the episode, “The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the C.I.A.” (1999).
The caper became the basis of “Argo,” a film directed by and starring Ben Affleck (as Mr. Mendez), which won the 2013 Academy Award for best picture.
Mr. Mendez died in 2019 without ever revealing his colleague’s name. Mr. Johnson was identified in the book only by his cover name, Julio, and wasn’t referenced in the film at all...
Not until a year ago, in the season finale of “The Langley Files,” an official agency podcast, was Mr. Johnson’s pivotal role revealed publicly.
In a statement released by the agency, his family honored him as “a name that whispered through the corridors of intelligence.”
Mr. Johnson was a Sorbonne-educated linguist and expert at extracting informers, turncoats, undercover agents and other C.I.A. assets from the Soviet bloc during the Cold War...
But the day took an inauspicious turn when, navigating with a local map, the C.I.A. men wound up at the Swedish Embassy, directly across from the besieged American compound, instead of at the Canadian Mission. Improbably, though, an Iranian student demonstrator wandered over, gave them directions and hailed a taxi, refusing a tip.
“I have to thank the Iranians for being the beacon who got us to the right place,” Mr. Johnson later said...
He recalled being stunned as he boarded the plane and saw that it was coincidentally named Aargau, after a Swiss canton, or state.
“What the hell?” he said. “We went in the plane, sat down, and after a bit — I forget when — I picked up The Herald Tribune and did the crossword puzzle. And one of the clues was Jason’s companions — Jason and the Argonauts.”
Mr. Mendez’s memoir and an article he wrote in Wired magazine in 2007 with Chris Terrio inspired the movie “Argo” — art imitating life imitating art.
Gift NYT article here. (Hopefully no "provide-email- to-read" nonsense like WaPo)
Edward B. Johnson, right, receiving the C.I.A.’s Intelligence Star, its second-highest award, from John N. McMahon, the agency’s deputy director for operations. Mr. Johnson had taken part in a daring rescue of Americans from Tehran in 1980.
Credit...Family of Edward B. Johnson/CIA, via Associated Press
Edward B. Johnson, who as an anonymous C.I.A. officer in 1980 helped rescue six American diplomats during the Iran hostage crisis by casting them as a Hollywood crew scouting a Mideast location — an audacious escape that itself became grist for an Oscar-winning movie — died on Aug. 27 at his home in Fairfax, Va. He was 81.
Documents detailing the Iran rescue were declassified by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1997, and another C.I.A. officer, Antonio J. Mendez, who had masterminded the scheme and recruited Mr. Johnson, wrote a book about the episode, “The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the C.I.A.” (1999).
The caper became the basis of “Argo,” a film directed by and starring Ben Affleck (as Mr. Mendez), which won the 2013 Academy Award for best picture.
Mr. Mendez died in 2019 without ever revealing his colleague’s name. Mr. Johnson was identified in the book only by his cover name, Julio, and wasn’t referenced in the film at all...
Not until a year ago, in the season finale of “The Langley Files,” an official agency podcast, was Mr. Johnson’s pivotal role revealed publicly.
In a statement released by the agency, his family honored him as “a name that whispered through the corridors of intelligence.”
Mr. Johnson was a Sorbonne-educated linguist and expert at extracting informers, turncoats, undercover agents and other C.I.A. assets from the Soviet bloc during the Cold War...
But the day took an inauspicious turn when, navigating with a local map, the C.I.A. men wound up at the Swedish Embassy, directly across from the besieged American compound, instead of at the Canadian Mission. Improbably, though, an Iranian student demonstrator wandered over, gave them directions and hailed a taxi, refusing a tip.
“I have to thank the Iranians for being the beacon who got us to the right place,” Mr. Johnson later said...
He recalled being stunned as he boarded the plane and saw that it was coincidentally named Aargau, after a Swiss canton, or state.
“What the hell?” he said. “We went in the plane, sat down, and after a bit — I forget when — I picked up The Herald Tribune and did the crossword puzzle. And one of the clues was Jason’s companions — Jason and the Argonauts.”
Mr. Mendez’s memoir and an article he wrote in Wired magazine in 2007 with Chris Terrio inspired the movie “Argo” — art imitating life imitating art.
