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New D.C. Spy Museum Exposes World of Espionage |
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Fulvio Cativo Dallas Morning News |
| August 13, 2002 |
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When the FBI captured and arrested former agent Robert Hanssen on espionage charges, he famously asked, "What took you so long?" The movie-like tale of his 20 years as a spy for Russia has found a stage at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., which opened to the public in July. "We call it the secret history of history," said the museum's founder and curator, Milton Maltz, addressing the significance of espionage. He does not consider the museum a "shrine" to espionage, however. "This museum is not a celebration of international espionage," he said. "It's an awakening." Visitors to the museum can witness the worldwide effects of the deceit, disguise, and danger that espionage has entailed through the years in efforts to collect secret information. "This is the only museum where you can find a display case of assassination weapons and a working Aston Martin—except for the ejection seat," said Peter Earnest, the museum's executive director. The British Aston Martin DB5 automobile, used by fictional spy James Bond in the 1964 motion picture Goldfinger, is among the many objects on display in the 20,000-square-foot museum. Trying on the "Cloak" The museum's planners sought to appeal to all visitors of all ages. The exhibits include many interactive and multimedia stations, extensive collections, and vivid accounts of significant events in espionage's history. The exhibits contain spy-training games, stations for listening in on tapped conversations going on elsewhere in the museum, and about 600 artifacts. Visitors also can watch several short films about specific eras and espionage methods. Items on display range from the toppled statue of former Russian spy Feliks Dzerzhinsky to a letter that George Washington sent to create an intelligence-gathering network for the Continental Armies fighting the British in February 1777. Most of the objects came from private collections. Among the spy gadgets are: • A 4.5-mm, single-shot gun disguised as a lipstick tube, which officials of the Soviet intelligence agency KGB called the "kiss of death." • A large lump of coal that concealed explosives to sabotage locomotives and factory boilers. • A Steineck wristwatch that allowed spies to take covert photos while appearing to be checking the time. The museum opened after seven years of consultation with former international espionage agents and experts. Earnest said he hopes the museum will enlighten and entertain visitors and will change their perceptions about espionage and intelligence. "We do it by telling the stories of the people of that world," Earnest said. "The people who for some reason engaged in espionage—people who sought to change the world, and in some cases they did." Retired members of the CIA, FBI, KGB, and the U.S. Army serve on the museum's advisory board. Many honed their trade during the Cold War, when spying was at a heightened state. The experts worked around the world in fields of expertise such as cryptology, linguistics, and disguise. Oleg Kalugin, a former KGB foreign counterintelligence chief who noted that many Russians were spies in America's government during the Cold War, said he wasn't worried that the museum would reveal old secrets. "We deal with information in the public domain," Kalugin said. After a 32-year career with the KGB, he is now a professor at the Center for Counterintelligence and Security Studies in Virginia. As a member of the project's advisory board, he helped collect more than 1,000 intelligence and espionage artifacts for the museum, he said. Labor of Love Maltz is a former employee of the National Security Agency and a retired broadcast magnate who also co-founded the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. He said it was decided to put the new museum in Washington, D.C., because "this city has more spies than any other in the world." Maltz said he became intensely interested in the world of intelligence during his stint at the security agency. Seven years ago he developed a plan to establish a museum that would showcase espionage, which has been largely secretive and known to the public mainly through film and fiction. He spent $25 million of his own money to develop the spy museum, which he hopes will become an international attraction for visitors to Washington. "Washington is the repository of the history of the United States. We're just extending it to another level," he said. Tony Mendez, formerly chief of disguise for the CIA, said espionage and intelligence have become more important than ever in today's global context, as highlighted by the terrorist attacks of September 11. "What history has proven is that the price of liberty is extended vigilance," he said. Mendez thinks the new museum should be of much interest even to non-U.S. visitors. "International visitors are going to be looking for contributions they made," he said. "There was no intelligence service before World War II, and many people from Britain will be able to see what they taught us." Maltz said the venture is not intended to make profit and he plans to invest revenue from admission fees back into the museum to maintain and improve it. Copyright 2002 Dallas Morning News Join the National Geographic Society Join the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organization, and help further our mission to increase and diffuse knowledge of the world and all that is in it. Membership dues are used to fund exploration and educational projects and members also receive 12 annual issues of the Society's official journal, National Geographic. Click here for details of our latest subscription offer: Go>> |
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