“We Stand For Organized Terror”
The International Spy Museum in Washington, DC is a museum dedicated to global espionage. It opened nearly 15 years ago, in July of 2002, and contains the largest collection of international espionage artifacts on public display.
Ceyeanide Eyeglasses
It is the only spy museum in the world that provides a neutral point of view and global perspective on the secretive, often invisible profession of espionage. Including counter-terrorism, counter-intelligence, covert action, and technological advancements in spying throughout history.
There are stories of individual spies, interactive exhibits, film, and models to uncover for the viewer the little-known about profession. And when entering the museum one can pick a spy alias to memorize facts throughout the museum on your persona. At various points along your museum journey, you can take quizzes about your persona. And in the end if you remember everything correctly-you are a winner, fit to be a real life spy…
Other famous spy museums throughout the world tend to focus on a specific period of time or country, like Moscow’s KGB Museum and NSA’s National Cryptologic Museum.
What ‘s in the collection? Concealment devices, historic photos, films, cipher machines, cyanide pills inside of glasses, sabotage weapons, a fake dog feces transmitter, and lots of more obscure items.
The 750 artifacts cover history from the Greek and Roman Empires, the British Empire, America Revolutionary War, American Civil War, both of the World Wars, the Cold War, and up until the present day.
Next, let’s delve into some espionage history of the most recent and famous type- the Cold War. In the fictitious world, there was 007 James Bond, a Cold War secret agent.
The real world of espionage between the USSR and the United States during the Cold War was a subtler act. Normal, everyday jobs and action were the key to success of staying undercover to relay information.
Rectal tool kit. “The Interview,” anybody?
In America, there were the CIA, NSA, and FBI. The US does not have a clean and superior track record- we have supported coups abroad, assassination, and human experimentation, along with the typical surveillance of foreign/domestic agents. For example, the CIA plotted assassination for Fidel Castro, and funded Project MK-ULTRA, that used hallucinatory drug experiments on subjects without informed consent. Another interesting project was the CIA’s Project Stargate, that investigated psychic abilities and their potential uses in regards to intelligence and military assets.
In Soviet Russia, the Cold War happened during Stalin’s NKVD and the later replacement of the well-known KGB. In fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin began his career in the KGB. Russia had an advantage in these times of espionage in the Cold War, they had history and knowledge dating back to their first spying organization in the late 1800s. This is shown in how soviet agents infiltrated the nuclear technology program of the US, the Manhattan Project, enough so that they even obtained blueprints with ease. In 1945, Stalin knew more about the new atomic bomb than most American politicians!
Swinging bookshelves always lead to pleasant places in the movies, right?
The Cold War was a fascinating time of intrigue, which I highly suggest everyone to delve farther into it!
And of course, head to the International Spy Museum in DC to get a hands on look throughout the globe and times for the history of espionage.