A visit here begins with a 5-minute briefing film, followed by a fun indoctrination into "Tricks of the Trade." Interactive monitors test one's powers of observation and teach you what to look for when it comes to suspicious activity. In addition to surveillance games, this first section displays trick equipment (such as a shoe transmitter used by Soviets as a listening device and a single-shot pistol disguised as a lipstick tube) and runs film in which spies talk about bugging devices and locks and picks. You can watch a video that shows individuals being made up for disguise, and you can crawl on your belly through ductwork in the ceiling overhead. (The conversations you hear are taped, not floating up from the room of tourists below.) Try to pace yourself, though, because there's still so much to see; and you can easily reach your limit before you get through the 68,000-square-foot museum. The next section covers the history of spying (the second-oldest profession) and tells about famous spy masters over time, from Moses; to Sun Tzu, the Chinese general, who wrote The Art of War in 400 B.C.; to George Washington, whose Revolutionary War letter of 1777 setting up a network of spies in New York is on view. Learn about the use of codes and code-breaking in spying, with one room of the museum devoted to the Enigma cipher machine used by the Germans (whose "unbreakable" codes the Allied cryptanalysts succeeded in deciphering) in World War II. An actual Enigma machine is displayed; interactive monitors allow you to simulate the experience of using an Enigma machine while learning more about its invention and inventor. Much more follows: artifacts from all over (this is the largest collection of international espionage artifacts ever put on public display); a re-created tunnel beneath the divided city of Berlin during the Cold War; the intelligence-gathering stories of those behind enemy lines and of those involved in planning D-day in World War II; an exhibit on escape and evasion techniques in wartime; the tales of spies of recent times, told by the CIA and FBI agents involved in identifying them; and a mock-up of an intelligence agency's 21st-century operations center. The museum's newest feature is Operation Spy, a 1-hour interactive immersion into espionage activities. Participants pretend to be intelligence officers and work in small teams as they conduct video surveillance of clandestine meetings, decrypt secret audio conversations, conduct polygraph tests, and so on, all in a day's work for a real-life spy. (You pay to play: a hefty $14 for those 12 and older, or $25 for combined admission to both the museum and this special feature.) Note: Neither the main museum nor Operation Spy are recommended for children 11 and under. You exit the museum directly to its gift shop, which leads to the Spy City Café. While you may look with suspicion on everyone around you when you leave the museum, you can trust that what you've just learned at the museum is authoritative. The Spy Museum's executive director was with the CIA for 36 years, and his advisory board includes two former CIA directors, two former CIA disguise chiefs, and a retired KGB general. Consider ordering advance tickets for next-day or future-date tours on the Spy Museum's website, which offers you the choice of printing your tickets at home or picking them up at the Will Call desk inside the museum. You can also purchase advance tickets, including those for tours later in the day, at the box office.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Washington, D.C. 2009, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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