As a civilian, Meadows continued to work with the military and was a key figure in the founding of
Delta Force, a special operations and hostage rescue force, in late 1977. In 1979, Meadows was reportedly involved in the rescue operation of two
Electronic Data Systems employees who had been imprisoned during the
Iranian Revolution.
Bull Simons, at the behest of
Ross Perot, had headed the operation which succeeded in bringing the two home unharmed. Meadows was tasked with reconnoitering the embassy grounds, locating the hostages, and renting trucks to abet the hostage rescuers. The mission ended in a major accident at a ground refueling point in the Iran desert and was aborted. Although documents found at the crash site compromised both the mission and Meadows' cover in Iran, Meadows was able to escape Iran aboard a commercial flight with his cover intact. In 1982, Meadows appeared on the cover of
Newsweek magazine in an issue which included a feature article about his career. He was buried in the
Barrancas National Cemetery at
Naval Air Station Pensacola. ==Legacy==