Secrets Revealed at Washington’s
International Spy Museum

by Colette Connolly

As lines of visitors snake through the foyer of the International Spy Museum in Washington D.C., it’s likely they will sense an intriguing journey ahead. Perhaps it’s the interviews playing overhead of former Cold War spies revealing their darkest, deepest spying tactics or the dimly lit corridor that visitors must pass through before boarding the elevator to the interactive exhibits two floors up.

The recent case of a Russian spy ring living under assumed names in the United States, some of them resident here almost 20 years, has no doubt spurred interest in the museum, the only one of its kind in the country.

While governments routinely conduct espionage on their enemies, the business of spying gained considerable attention during the Cold War period when spying was at its most intense, particularly between the United States and the former Eastern Bloc countries, most notably Russia.

The museum, located on F Street in the northwest district of the city, is a great place to bring kids. Both my children, ages 14 and 9, enjoyed the many interactive displays throughout the museum, many of them dealing with the innovative tools used by spies to gather vital information.

For my son, the thrill of taking on a cover identity was a lot of fun. Visitors entering the museum are directed to a room with a collection of “dossiers.” They are expected to choose an identity, study the details concerning their cover, including name, age, occupation, and where they will be assigned as a spy, and then memorize all of the information.

It was, however, the “Tricks of the Trade” exhibit that we found most interesting. We learned that the Minox camera, which for 50 years was a favorite tool for spies, took excellent close-up photographs of documents. The subminiature device was widely used by intelligence officers during the 1940s, the ‘50s and the ‘60s. Also on display was the Steinbeck ABC wristwatch camera, used by Germans in the 1940s; the Tessina camera hidden within a cigarette case; and the buttonhole camera, which looks like a real button.  Other artifacts on display included hats, invisible ink and short-wave radios.

Espionage takes all forms, we discovered. In 1946, Soviet schoolchildren presented a two-foot Greal Seal of the United States to former Soviet Ambassador Averell Harriman. Embedded in the seal was a small debugging device, which was not discovered by the Americans until 1952, an undoubtedly embarrassing turn of events for the intelligence community.

The museum also chronicles the female spies who impacted history, including Ann Bates who infiltrated President George Washington’s headquarters, the abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who spied for the Union army during the Civil War, and Mata Hari, a Dutch native who was executed by the French for allegedly working as a German spy during World War II. Later evidence suggested that Mata Hari was indeed innocent.

For espionage aficionados, the museum has introduced a new scavenger hunt experience, with teams competing against each other and the clock as they navigate their way through the museum, following clues, solving problems, decoding messages, and answering a variety of questions as quickly as possible.

Other ongoing events at the museum include Spy at Night™, which gives visitors exclusive night-time access to the museum’s “Operation Spy” experience. The hour-long interactive program combines live-action, video, themed environments, special effects, and hands-on activities to create a series of reality-based challenges where participants think, feel, and act like real agents.

Kids will love Spy in the City™, another new tour provided by the museum. Participants are given GPS devices and search throughout the city for clues, codes and audio intercepts, all the time posing as undercover agents.

If you go:

Admission is $15 for children ages 5-11; $18 for adults; and $17 for seniors and members of the military/intelligence community.

Details and the cost of additional tours are included on the website (www.spymuseum.org).

If you’re staying overnight in D.C., check out this site for hotel accommodation: www.washington.org.

Photos courtesy of the International Spy Museum.

Colette Connolly is a freelance writer and editor living in the New York area.