International Spy Museum

International Spy Museum Welcome to the International Spy Museum....we've been expecting you!

The International Spy Museum is a private non-profit museum dedicated to the tradecraft, history and contemporary role of espionage, featuring the largest collection of international espionage artifacts currently on public display.

Now that drug cartels can be labeled foreign terrorist organizations, how do you dismantle one? SpyCast host Sasha Ingbe...
06/11/2026

Now that drug cartels can be labeled foreign terrorist organizations, how do you dismantle one?

SpyCast host Sasha Ingber sat down with Chris Feistl, a retired DEA special agent who spent 26 years at the agency and helped dismantle one of the world's most powerful drug cartels, the Cali Cartel. From selling ma*****na in the 1970s to harder drugs in the decades that followed, the so-called "Godfathers of Cali" bribed judges, lawmakers, police commanders, and military officers. They used Boeing 727s to haul drugs out of Colombia and funneled millions to a candidate who won the 1994 presidential election, effectively buying the race. The details are told in Chris's book "After Escobar" and Season 3 of "Narcos."

Watch here: https://youtu.be/bAa649Z3GNw

Listen here: https://bit.ly/4awedPd

"Washington did not really outfight the British, he simply outspied us." That's what London newspapers reported after th...
06/09/2026

"Washington did not really outfight the British, he simply outspied us." That's what London newspapers reported after the defeat of the British Army. So who were Washington's spies, and how do we know about these shadowy figures 250 years later?

Join International Spy Museum Director of Adult Education Amanda A. Ohlke for Spies and Spycraft of the American Revolution. Ohlke will explore the intelligence networks that helped win the Revolution, from the members of the Culper Ring to James Lafayette, the enslaved man who helped outwit British Gen. Cornwallis.

📅 Wednesday, June 17, 2026
🕕 6:00 PM ET
📍 Massanutten Regional Library, 174 S. Main St., Harrisonburg, Va.
🎟️ Free. No registration required.

06/08/2026

Zebras are naturally outfitted with a black and white disruptive camouflage pattern, making it hard to discern which direction they're moving. Here we see a SPY employee in the wild using the same technique to avoid being captured on camera by our social media team.

Trying to avoid your marketing team? Learn more about camouflage in our new exhibit: https://bit.ly/4wHix7T

Join International Spy Museum Executive Director Chris Costa for a live Spy Chat with retired Gen. Bryan P. Fenton, form...
06/07/2026

Join International Spy Museum Executive Director Chris Costa for a live Spy Chat with retired Gen. Bryan P. Fenton, former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.

📅 Thursday, June 11, 2026
🕡 6:30 PM ET
📍 Hybrid: International Spy Museum & Online

🎟️ Register: https://bit.ly/49FJM8Z

Costa, a former intelligence officer with 34 years of service, including assignments in Panama, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and a past Director for Counterterrorism on the National Security Council, will lead a timely discussion on intelligence, national security, and terrorism with Gen. Fenton.

Gen. Fenton served as the 13th commander of U.S. Special Operations Command. He oversaw all Special Operations for the US Department of Defense with 70,000 special operations personnel across the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. A career Special Forces officer, he has commanded at every level and deployed across multiple theaters, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, and the Philippines.

The program will include a Q&A session open to both in-person and virtual attendees.

Why would the military blow up its own tanks in WWII? Because they were inflatable!As we celebrate the anniversary of D‑...
06/06/2026

Why would the military blow up its own tanks in WWII? Because they were inflatable!

As we celebrate the anniversary of D‑Day (June 6, 1944), this unusual tactic reminds us that victory was won not only with weapons, but also with deception.

From the air, these phony tanks looked like the real deal to Luftwaffe pilots. This masterful deception, supported by wooden planes, sound effects, and fake radio communication, created the illusion of large, well-equipped forces. Activated in early 1944, the United States' "Ghost Army" helped mislead Axis forces and camouflage the true location and date of the D-Day invasion of France.

Join us for "Human Intelligence: Spying in the US-Mexican War," a fascinating look at how intelligence shaped one of Ame...
06/05/2026

Join us for "Human Intelligence: Spying in the US-Mexican War," a fascinating look at how intelligence shaped one of America's most consequential and overlooked conflicts.

📅 Wednesday, June 10, 2026
🕛 12:00 PM ET
📍 Hybrid: International Spy Museum & Online

🎟️ Register here: https://bit.ly/3SmCUaw

Retired US Army historian and author Stephen A. Carney explores the traders, scouts, guides, and paid informants who helped US forces operate across vast distances and unfamiliar terrain during the US-Mexican War. He'll take a close look at Winfield Scott's campaign against Mexico City and the Dominguez Spy Company, a network of Mexican nationals who provided critical intelligence to American forces.

06/04/2026

We heard your feedback. The prototype is back, and this time, it works. 🕵️‍♀️

New SpyCast Episode!"If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone." This is the end of the announceme...
06/04/2026

New SpyCast Episode!

"If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone." This is the end of the announcement Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower had prepared in June 1944 in case the D-Day landings failed. He never had to deliver it, but the fact that he wrote it tells you all you need to know about how precarious the success of the invasion really was. And at the center of that uncertainty was something no army could control: the weather. This is the premise of the new major motion picture "Pressure," the story of the small team of meteorologists trying to predict the unpredictable. Spy Museum Historian Dr. Mark Jacobson sits down with the screenwriter of "Pressure," David Haig, and the film's co-writer and director, Anthony Maras, to discuss how a simple weather forecast proved to be a critical piece of intelligence.

Watch here: https://bit.ly/43SCbAo

Listen here: https://bit.ly/4x5ZdkQ

Happy Birthday, Josephine Baker! Global superstar, civil rights activist, and spy.During World War II, Baker used her fa...
06/03/2026

Happy Birthday, Josephine Baker! Global superstar, civil rights activist, and spy.

During World War II, Baker used her fame as cover, gathering intelligence at high-profile events and smuggling secrets hidden in sheet music. What looked like effortless glamour was actually a carefully crafted disguise.

06/01/2026

This Cold War–era Retractable Minox Camera Holder was attached to the body, the camera would be used to snap secret document photos and then instantly retract out of sight.

Address

700 L'Enfant Plaza, SW
Washington D.C., DC
20024

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 7pm
Tuesday 9am - 7pm
Wednesday 9am - 7pm
Thursday 9am - 7pm
Friday 9am - 8pm
Saturday 9am - 8pm
Sunday 9am - 8pm

Telephone

+12023937798

Website

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