FBI Headquarters

In the summer of 1999, citing security concerns, officials at the FBI temporarily closed down the popular tour at the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover headquarters building. The tour was reopened in the fall, however-welcome news for the nearly 500,000 visitors a year who visit this site, making it the No. 1 federal agency tourist attraction.

The FBI tour winds its way through several corridors that spotlight the FBI's history and current crime-fighting activities. The tour begins with a homage to the bureau's G-man glory days, including pop-up figures of Al Capone, Baby Face Nelson and John Dillinger. Exhibits include John Dillinger's death mask, made shortly after the bank robber came to his untimely end, and a collection of gangsters' tommy guns. In the modern crime section, tour guides define each crime displayed-organized, white-collar, illicit drug, terrorist, and violent. Among the articles illustrating white-collar crime is a fraudulent Mickey Mantle New York Yankee uniform. A visit to the modern crime section concludes with a look at the FBI's celebrated Ten Most Wanted list.

The next section of the tour highlights the FBI's expertise in DNA analysis and identifying different kinds of auto body paint pigments, hair, fiber and yarn. The agency also has 5,000 weapons in its firearms reference collection-including the type of rifle used by presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

The tour's grand finale is the live-fire demonstration, conducted the day of our visit by a four-year bureau veteran who explained the firearms training prospective agents receive. The agent, standing behind a glass wall, expertly fired a .357-caliber Magnum revolver, a Glock semiautomatic pistol and an automatic machine gun at a nearby target (most firing situations, we learned, happen within a 20-foot distance).

FBI Tour
Monday-Friday, 8:45 a.m.-4:15 p.m.
(202) 324-3447
935 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.
Washington (Metro Center subway stop)
www.fbi.gov/yourfbi/tour/tour.htm,

The unscheduled public tour may close early during peak holiday and summer periods. No tickets are needed, but groups of six or less may reserve a tour through their Congress member's office, preferably three months in advance.