It’s no surprise that the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) is a bit secretive — so much so that the CIA has a museum that isn’t actually open to the public. Likewise, the FBI Museum now requires a special background check to visit. But then there’s the National Cryptologic Museum (NCM), an institution that traces the origins of the National Security Agency (NSA) and its role in the IC today.
This is actually the only public museum in the U.S. IC — and it can be visited for free with no reservation required. The facility was first open to the public on December 16, 1993, and it currently hosts some 70,000 visitors annually.
BACKGROUND – HISTORY OF THE NSA
The NSA could also be best described as something of a paradox. Founded nearly 71 years ago, its existence wasn’t even revealed until 1975, even as it became the largest of the U.S. intelligence organizations in terms of personnel and budget during the Cold War. Its headquarters is located in a fairly nondescript office tower at Fort Meade, Maryland — akin to it hiding in very plain sight.
