Hello, my name is Jane Meyer...

Hello, my name is Jane Meyer.  I am a 13 year old student from Sweetwater, TN.  I am traveling to Dublin, Ireland for 7 days of vacation.  I will be visiting the National Museum of Ireland where I will be meeting Tommy Doyle, a museum employee who will be providing me with an activity packet and teaching me about the Irish Vikings.

That's my cover.

In reality, I'm an undercover spy traveling to Ireland on a covert operation to retrieve top secret intelligence information and bring it back to United States where I will leave it at an undisclosed drop point which will be provided to me upon my return.

Pretty impressive I can pass for a 13 year old, right??

Today I went with my friends, Julie and Tim, to the International Spy Museum downtown DC! 

There is no photography allowed inside the museum so some of the next pictures are off of the International Spy Museum website and some are other random pictures I found on the internet. Upon entering the museum, everyone is asked to select a cover story and given 5 minutes to memorize it. Then as you travel throughout the museum, you are asked questions regarding who you are and where you are traveling to.   I was somehow able to pass as a 13 year old girl and successfully completed my mission upon exiting the museum. The museum is a really fun place and I highly recommend it. It's not free, like most of the other museums downtown but we got $10 tickets off Groupon and it's worth the money. 

The museum is very interactive. We had the chance to identify various spy activities that were portrayed, pick up on drop-point markers, listen to other people in the museum from bugs that were planted in specific locations, crawl through the duct work, and stop spies who altered their identity from leaving the country.  Bugs can be planted in anything and can be as small as a single strand of hair.

(Can you figure out where the bug is in these ordinary household items?  Didn't think so...)

We got to see different objects that were turned into weapons, like umbrellas and pens (James Bond style) and learned how to conceal various types of information in everything from a book, to a toy truck, and even in fake manure.  We learned about different hiding compartments in cars, cyanide capsules in eyeglasses, and lipstick pistols!

 

They talked about some of histories greatest spies both foreign and domestic, including famous names such as Julia Child (before she got into cooking) and Marlene Dietrich.

  

We also learned about tunneling operations during both World Wars, Vietnam, and even in Washington DC...to this day there are a couple of homes still standing, one is believed to have been owned by the government and used by the CIA to tunnel to the Russian Embassy, though no one knows which house was specifically used. 

(example of an underground tunnel)

We also learned about the Russian KGB and Ninjas and Robert Hanssen, a former FBI agent who spied for the Russians for 22 years while he was an agent and was caught in 2001.  There was quite a bit of information about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg as well, a couple that passed information to the Russians about the atomic bomb and were the first civilians executed for espionage in the history of the United States.

 

Another cool thing they talked about were homing pigeons that were used during WWI.  Pigeons are the most decorated animal species ever.  Specifically, one named Cher Ami, was the last hope to a group of soldiers on October 3, 1918, who were trapped on a hillside behind enemy lines during the Battle of Argonne.  After two homing pigeons had already been shot down, the third and final pigeon, Cher Ami, had a message strapped to his leg and was dispatched.  Despite being shot by the Germans, the bird continued his mission and flew 25 miles to division headquarters in just 65 minutes.   In this mission, Cher Ami delivered the message despite having been shot through the breast, blinded in one eye, covered in blood and with a leg hanging only by a tendon.  He saved the lives of 194 soldiers and became the hero of the 77th Infantry Division.  Medics were unable to save his leg but they carved him a wooden one that he continued to use for the next six months he was alive.  The pigeon was awarded the Croix de Guerre Medal with a palm Oak Leaf Cluster for his heroic service in delivering 12 important messages in Verdun.  He died at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, on June 13, 1919 from the wounds he received in battle.  How cool is that fun tidbit of information?!

(Cher Ami is on display in the Smithsonian)

Did you know that there are more spies in Washington DC than in any other part of the country?  I'm pretty sure I spotted one on the metro ride home but he slipped away from me at one of the stops...I'll get him next time for sure!

That's all I have to write about in our adventures to the Spy Museum...until next time, keep your eyes open for anything suspicious!