David McCloskey

I want to, but I don't.

So Mendez pitches the Canadians.

Canadians kind of like the idea about the Hollywood cover.

And Mendez starts to work on a plan.

And he actually, inside Ottawa Station, writes up in longhand, on a yellow legal pad, a 16-page ops plan that gets cabled to Langley.

And Mendez then flies back to Washington and has a meeting with higher-ups inside the agency's Near East Division.

Because again, Mendez works in the Office of Technical Service.

The Near East Division has primacy for operations in Iran, so they need to be on board with this.

And there is a little bit of consternation about Mendez having run this through the Canadians first, but seems to be forgiven because the plan is, if not a good one, as the film says, it's the best bad plan that the CIA has.

Now...

The Hollywood cover also could potentially solve more than just the house guest problem.

Because we talked about this in the last episode, the Pentagon is deep into planning a bigger rescue operation for the rest of the hostages who are being held at the embassy.

This will become known as Operation Eagle Claw.

The operation, the plans are not firmed up yet.

By the time we're in January of 1980, the operation won't take place until April.

And so the idea that there could be a pipeline of film scouts, a production company sending people to Iran, well, that could create some interesting possibilities to get more people throughout the spring into Tehran.

And further, there's thought that a film production might be welcomed by the Iranians.

because it could help promote tourism.

And President Carter has just frozen a bunch of Iranian assets, the Iranian regime is desperate for cash.

Maybe a film shoot would help in that regard.