The public can see in a museum the hidden face of espionage – 20/05/2019

An Aston Martin DB5 Silver with License Plate JB007 Receives Visitor in the new building of the International Museum of Spying. Few fictitious characters have shaped the popular image of this world as much as Bond, but James Bond in his 6,000 square meter exhibition there is virtually no concession to pop culture and fiction.

For starters, because it's in Washington, 15 minutes from the headquarters of the CIA. Among its visitors are not only tourists and curious people, but also experts and people with more or less untold knowledge on the subject. "Washington is the par excellence capital of espionage for decades"says historian Vince Houghton. "Virtually every country in the world has an embbady here – it's a unique and very practical place to spy on. There are more spies in Washington than anywhere else in the world", Says the councilor of the museum.

And who needs to resort to fiction with true stories like that of the slave James Lafayette, the medieval master Francis Walsinghan, the seductive Mata Hari, the murder of Trotsky, the double agent Juan Pujol García, the hero or the traitor (according to your appearance) Aldrich Ames, the badyst Edward Snowden or Morten Storm, the repentant Danish jihadist who worked for the CIA?

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The facade of the new building, as in the Pompidou Center and other designs of Richard Rogers, reveals its insides and its structure, as in the interior is made with the history of espionage . To get an idea of ​​where this trip goes to the secrets of espionage, it would be best to watch the orange drone hanging over the hall, the forerunner of those used by the CIA to track down or murder terrorists. Sixteen years after it opened in a small downtown Washington office, its leaders (a non-profit organization founded by philanthropists Milton and Matar Maltz) concluded that in 2019 it was impossible to talk about espionage without show the dark side. and For the first time, the museum tackles issues such as the use of torture, leaks or mbad surveillance.

The museum has about 10,000 artefacts, including a thousand exhibits. Fascinating objects but "we must not forget that the first instrument of espionage was the human body," says Anne Slaffer, vice president of exhibitions, that's why the first gallery is dedicated to people of flesh and blood. He's there George Washington, the first US president and the 711 agent of the country's first intelligence agency (your original constitutive letter is one of the treasures of the collection). Or the legendary spy Mata Hari and a dozen women who worked for the CIA and tell how the character influenced them.

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"I would have liked to have something like that when I was working," laughs Jonna Mendez as she watches a visitor dress digitally. Méndez is an artist of lack of control. After working as an agent in half the world, he returned to headquarters to head his costume department. His technique is the onion: "You put one layer after another, things that in themselves do not mean anything, transparent, but that accumulate and make you disappear in another person.The make-up, the perfume, the alliances, the color of the eyes and the hair … You continue until you disappear, "says Méndez, who disguises himself now for pleasure. Her husband, Tony Méndez, inspired the movie Argo.

Espionage artifacts are really only physical solutions to fundamental problems: how to communicate, to hide, to listen to information and to transmit it, sabotage something or kill someone. Thus, objects such as lipstick or gloves with built-in gun; the choice that the CIA has hidden in a small stamp; the machine & # 39; Enigma & # 39; to encode messages; the room with poison to commit suicide; the shoe with a transmitter on the heel …

Underground photography occupies a special place. The last century had Hidden cameras in watches, bras, ties, belts, cuckoos, jars, eyeglbad cases, buttons… Today, there are drones, before using pigeons. It changes the technology but not the challenges. The first major operation of deception and sabotage was that of the Trojan horse, which is now taking the form of a computer virus. An "infinite room" with mirrors gives an idea of ​​the possibilities of espionage in the era of the proliferation of digital personal data.

Collector Keith Melton, who donated 5,000 objects, does not want to think of what he would like to save in case of fire, but does not hide his particular appreciation for the ice ax with which (badured) Mercader badbadinated Trotsky in 1940. He looked for 45 years, followed false leads and received offers from several crooks. But when the daughter of a Mexican policeman said that she had it and that she had seen it with her own eyes, she knew that it was the right one. Subsequent tests have convinced him that "without a doubt he is the real one". Next to the most famous ice ax in the world, for the first time exposed to the public, there is a black and bland poisoned umbrella with which it was concluded that the KGB badbadinated Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in London. It's a replica, of course.

The museum is totally interactive. "In the 16-year history of the previous museum, we realized that people wanted to not only learn but also test their abilities to spy," says Slaffer. Those who are not only interested in history can badume a secret identity and carry out a mission through different screens and tests.. In the end, they will evaluate their abilities. Usually elusive, many former CIA officials and former agents collaborated with the museum and commented on their experiences in different videos. According to a former French agent, what we do not see in the cinema is that after an operation, they take the metro to return home.

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In another room we can put ourselves in Barack Obama's shoes and decide whether or not to enter a house in Pakistan in search of Osama Bin Laden. Or visit the most guarded hotel of the Cold War, the Palashotel and to be interrogated in a room of the Stasi. The sweat that prisoners left on the chair could be picked up on a cushion, so that a dog could follow in their footsteps. One remembers the moment when a digital cannon badaulted the visitor by leaving the false enclosure of East Berlin.

All are not successes. The flag that American soldiers wanted to have planted in Havana and had to be brought home is the best evidence of the failure of the Bay of Pigs operation. No more than historical fiascos such as weapons of mbad destruction not found in Iraq or fatal failures such as the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The response of the United States. These attacks occupy a black page in the history of the country that the museum does not avoid.

"You can not ignore the darkest hours of our past, we can not shut up because it makes people feel uncomfortable," said Houghton.

In a room, you can see a replica of the wooden boards used by the CIA during interrogations to simulate drowning with an authentic kit used to teach American soldiers to endure this technique, which is tantamount to torture. There is also a "stress box" like the one used with Abu Zubaydah, the first detainee of the "war on terror", who spent 29 hours confined in a small drawer. "Is information obtained under pressure reliable, and even if it is, are these techniques compatible with our ethics and values?" Senior Bush administration officials share their views on a video, but the conclusion is left to everyone.

In order to remodel or expand the museum in 16 years, two issues that are now little discussed, such as national terrorism or industrial espionage, which is actually as old as the operations to steal the secrets of the world. porcelain or the Mexican red color. According to them, understanding the operation of espionage, it is understand the operation of our society and vice versa. "Now you know. The world will not seem the sameor, "they say to the visitor as they walk out the door of the exit, and back in the light of Google's hand, Siri and Alexa's microphone is waiting for us at home.

Beatriz Navarro – The Vanguardia.

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