Skip to main content

International Spy Museum in Washington, DC

International Spy Museum in Washington, DCPhoto © International Spy Museum

Washington, DC is the home to the only spy museum in the United States. The International Spy Museum showcases more than 200 gadgets, weapons, bugs, cameras, vehicles, and technologies used for espionage throughout the world. Learn about microdots and invisible ink, buttonhole cameras and submarine recording systems, bugs of all sizes and kinds. Find out why and how these artifacts were developed. Uncover stories of individual spies from Moses to Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth I to George Washington, Cardinal Richelieu to Joseph Stalin.

The International Spy Museum offers lectures, films, book-signings, and family activities covering a wide range of spy-related topics. There is a museum store offering unique gifts and a restaurant next door, the Spy City Cafe.

See Photos of the International Spy Museum

Exhibits and Interactive Tours

  • Permanent Collection - The permanent exhibition presents the tradecraft of espionage through the stories of individuals and their missions, tools and techniques. Exhibits include: School for Spies providing an introduction to the world of espionage and describes many of the skills and tools essential to a spy; The Secret History of History chronicling the history of spying from biblical times to the early 20th century; Spies Among Us showcasing real-life spy stories; War of the Spies exploring the Cold War, using Post-war Berlin as the backdrop for engaging exhibits detailing the Berlin Tunnel, the Stasi, the internal security force for East Germany’s Ministry for State Security, and the fall of the Soviet Union; The 21st Century examining challenges facing intelligence professionals world-wide in the 21st Century are addressed in the Museum’s final film, Ground Truth. The looming threat of Cyber War is addressed in Weapons of Mass Disruption.

  • Operation Spy - In an action-packed hour, participants take on the role of U.S. intelligence officers on an international mission to locate a missing nuclear device before it falls into the wrong hands. This intense experience combines live-action, video characters, themed environments, special effects, and hands-on activities.

  • Spy in the City - See Washington DC through the Eyes of a Spy. This interactive gps-based outdoor walking mission allows you to solve a spy case on your own. Your spy skills of observation, evasion, and code-breaking will be put to the test.


Address
800 F Street, NW, Washington, DC.

The International Spy Museum is located in the Penn Quarter neighborhood, a revitalized arts and entertainment district of Washington, DC.

See a map

The closest Metro station is Gallery Place/Chinatown.

Admission
$19.95 - Adults (ages 18-64)
$15.95 - Senior (ages 65+) Military, Law Enforcement
$14.95 - Youth (ages 7-17)
Free - Children age 6 & under
$14.95 - Operation Spy
$14.95 - Spy in the City
Combination packages are available.

To control crowding, tickets are assigned an entry time. Purchase tickets online. These exhibits can be very crowded even with the assigned entry times. The best time to visit this museum is during the week and early in the day.

Hours
Open Daily, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re
Post a Comment
Read more

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has
Post a Comment
Read more

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, specif
1 comment
Read more