Central Intelligence Agency

You might have seen photographs of the memorial stars in the lobby of the Central Intelligence Agency that honor named and unnamed CIA officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. And you may have read about Kryptos, the courtyard sculpture that artist James Sanborn designed to test the decoding skills of agency personnel. But you probably didn't know that the CIA maintains a first-rate exhibit center that pays homage to heroes of the government's secret profession and showcases the gadgets used by both sides in the Cold War.

Sponsored by the Agency's Center for the Study of Intelligence, the CIA Exhibit Center is open only to government visitors who are cleared to conduct business at CIA headquarters. Our tour was led by Tom Crispell, a public affairs officer, and exhibit center curator Toni Hiley. Hiley explained how the collection began in the mid-1970s and really took shape in the last decade. On loan to the exhibit center is a portion of author and historian H. Keith Melton's collection of some 6,000 spy devices.

The exhibit center in the new headquarters building houses the agency's permanent collection of intelligence artifacts featuring displays dedicated to some of its heroes and operations. Maj. Gen. William J. Donovan, leader of CIA's predecessor organization, the Office of Strategic Services, is recognized in a display that includes his World War I military accouterments, his World War II uniform, desk and map case. Other displays include the following:

• The design for the agency's seal, approved and signed by President Harry S Truman in 1950.
  
• A bronze plaque honoring Robert Ames, a CIA analyst killed in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.
  
• Letters from Svetlana Alliluyeva (Russian dictator Joseph Stalin's daughter) requesting political asylum.
  
• Serving china marked with the Vietnam-era, CIA-front airline Air America emblem.
• Equipment taken from an Iraqi bunker after the liberation of Kuwait.
  

  The second exhibit, "The Cold War: Fifty Years of Silent Conflict," was installed in the original headquarters building as part of the agency's 50th anniversary celebrations in 1997. The exhibit displays a portion of Melton's unique collection of some 6,000 spy devices, including a Minox miniature camera, a single-shot .45-caliber walking cane and a wallet that could project a poison gas cartridge.

Also on display are "geopolitical walls" that showcase a variety of arts and artifacts from various regions of the world.