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This image of a painting hanging at the CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, is an artist's take on former CIA officers Antonio "Tony" Mendez, face visible, and Edward B. Johnson preparing documents to smuggle American diplomats out of Tehran, Iran, in 1980. Edward B. Johnson, who as a Central Intelligence Agency officer traveled into Iran with a colleague to rescue six American diplomats who fled the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran, has died, the CIA confirmed on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. He was 81. (CIA via AP)

This image of a painting hanging at the CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, is an artist's take on former CIA officers Antonio "Tony" Mendez, face visible, and Edward B. Johnson preparing documents to smuggle American diplomats out of Tehran, Iran, in 1980. Edward B. Johnson, who as a Central Intelligence Agency officer traveled into Iran with a colleague to rescue six American diplomats who fled the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran, has died, the CIA confirmed on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. He was 81. (CIA via AP)

This photograph released by the CIA on behalf of the family of former CIA officer Edward B. Johnson shows Johnson, right, receiving the CIA's Intelligence Star from John N. McMahon, then the agency's deputy director for operations, in May 1980. Edward B. Johnson, who as a Central Intelligence Agency officer traveled into Iran with a colleague to rescue six American diplomats who fled the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran, has died, the CIA confirmed on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. He was 81. (Family of Edward B. Johnson/CIA via AP)

This photograph released by the CIA on behalf of the family of former CIA officer Edward B. Johnson shows Johnson, right, receiving the CIA's Intelligence Star from John N. McMahon, then the agency's deputy director for operations, in May 1980. Edward B. Johnson, who as a Central Intelligence Agency officer traveled into Iran with a colleague to rescue six American diplomats who fled the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran, has died, the CIA confirmed on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. He was 81. (Family of Edward B. Johnson/CIA via AP)