CIA museum for spies’ eyes only

International

-DW News

Washington,
Sep
25:
It
is
so
secret
only
spooks
can
visit
it,
but
on
Saturday,
the

Central
Intelligence
Agency
(CIA)
declassified
some
artifacts
in
its
newly
refurbished
museum.

Among
the
exhibits
is
the
model
of
Ayman
al-Zawahiri’s
safe
house,
used
to
brief
President
Joe
Biden
about
the
al-Qaida
leader’s
whereabouts
before
the
agency
killed
him
in
a
drone
strike
in
Afghanistan.

Some
of
the
declassified
items
can
be
viewed
online,
but
for
the
most
part,
the
museum
at
the
CIA’s
Langley
headquarters
is
closed
to
the
public,
and
access
is
limited
to
the
agency’s
employees
and
guests.

A
running
agency
joke
about
the
collection
is
that
for
most
people,
it’s
“the
greatest
museum
you’ll
never
see,” Janelle
Neises,
the
museum’s
deputy
director,
said.

CIA
unveils
model
of
al-Qaida
leader
al-Zawahiri’s
hideout

Most
of
the
exhibits
took
years
or
decades
to
declassify,
with
al-Zawahiri’s
model
being
a
rare
exception.

“It’s
very
unusual
for
something
to
get
declassified
that
quickly,” Neises
said.

Al-Zawahiri
had
led
al-Qaida
since
the
militant
group’s
founder
Osama
bin
Laden
was
killed
in
a
US
operation
in
Pakistan
in
2011.

Shortly
after
al-Zawahiri’s
death
in
late
July,
White
House
officials
released
a
photo
showing
Biden
talking
to
CIA
Director
William
Burns
with
a
closed
wooden
box
on
the
table
in
front
of
them.

The
scale
model
of
al-Zawahiri’s
compound
in
Kabul
was
in
the
box.

The
strike
was
significant
for
the
CIA,
which
lost
seven
employees
trying
to
find
al-Zawahiri.

Also
cleared
for
display
was
an
assault
rifle
found
near
bin
Laden
the
night
US
Navy
SEALs
killed
him
in
a
raid
on
his
compound
in
Pakistan,
as
well
as
a
leather
jacket
found
with
former
Iraqi
President
Saddam
Hussein
when
he
was
captured
in
2003.

Among
the
600
artifacts,
there
are
also
concept
drawings
for
the
fake
film
created
as
part
of
a
1980
operation
to
rescue
American
diplomats
from
Iran,
flight
suits
worn
by
pilots
of
Cold
War-era
U-2
and
A-12
flights
and
even
information
on
the
agency’s
darker
moments,
including
its
role
in
the
ultimately
false
assertions
that
Iraq
had
weapons
of
mass
destruction.

“Our
museum
is
operational,”
Neises
said.
“It’s
here
for
our
workforce
to
learn
from
our
successes
and
failures.”

That
might
be
good,
considering
the
agency
is
now
hiring
officers
in
their
twenties
who
are
too
young
to
remember
the
September
11,
2001,
attacks.

Source: DW