LONDON — Jonna Mendez, a former chief of disguise at the CIA, delivered a keynote address at the Infosecurity Europe 2026 conference in London. Mendez discussed the role of artificial intelligence in modern espionage and a recent warning from the Five Eyes intelligence partnership regarding Chinese intelligence recruitment.
During her address, Mendez said, "The intelligence community in Washington has been concerned about how artificial intelligence will impact intelligence operations. Its ability to collect comprehensive information about a particular individual is going to be very helpful." Intelligence agencies currently use AI to identify and recruit human sources, gathering extensive personal data to profile potential targets for establishing cooperative relationships.
Mendez, who served at the CIA for 27 years, said, "Intelligence agencies have long understood that people betray their countries for predictable reasons, grouped under the acronym MICE: money, ideology, compromise, and ego." She added, "The way to protect yourself is to find the soft spots. Where are adversaries coming in, and how are they convincing people inside governments and companies to talk? That is where you need to dig and figure it out."
The Five Eyes issued a joint security bulletin titled "Safeguarding Our Secrets" on June 3. The bulletin stated that Chinese military intelligence uses professional networking platforms to target individuals with access to classified information. It identified those working in defense, foreign affairs, intelligence, technology, academia, and media as primary recruitment targets. Adversaries also utilize synthetic identities and AI-generated media to conduct espionage operations, with modern espionage frequently involving operatives posing as recruitment consultants or job seekers.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the U.K. responded to the Five Eyes bulletin. The spokesperson said, "The allegation of so-called 'Chinese espionage threat' is entirely fabricated and constitutes malicious slander." The spokesperson added, "The Five Eyes are the world’s largest intelligence network, and its members have engaged in espionage activities globally."
In a recent case, an AI detection system identified a North Korean operative posing as a young American technology professional. The operative had been hired remotely by a U.S. cybersecurity firm. During Mendez's tenure at the CIA, personnel developed animated disguise masks capable of deceiving trained observers at close range. President George H.W. Bush failed to detect one of Mendez's disguise masks during a White House briefing in the early 1990s. Mendez said, "Disguise mask technology developed during her tenure could still be effective against modern cameras depending on lighting conditions."