National Cryptologic Museum in National Vigilance Park

20701 Annapolis Junction, MD, United States of America (USA) (Maryland)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
The National Cryptologic Museum (NCM) is an American museum of cryptologic history that is affiliated with the National Security Agency (NSA).
 

Collections

The NCM collection contains thousands of artifacts, including numerous working World War II German Enigma machines (2 of them are available for visitors to try out), and a Navy Bombe used to break it. Displays discuss the history of American cryptology and the people, machines, techniques, and locations concerned. Initially housing NSA artifacts for viewing by employees, the museum quickly developed into a collection of U.S. cryptologic history, with some artifacts dating back to pre-American Revolutionary War times.

In addition to exhibits covering equipment used to encrypt, decrypt, and secure information, the museum features exhibits on the people who contributed to cryptography in America, such as George Washington (who integrated military intelligence tactics, including coded messaging, into the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War), the Native American code talkers (who protected U.S. communications during both World Wars by using their native languages to encode message traffic), and the Navy WAVES (who, like the WRENS of the British Royal Navy, operated the Bombe to decrypt German military traffic during WWII).
 

Collections are divided into four major groupings:

* Early Cryptology, which deals with cryptologic history prior to the formation of NSA, with exhibits dating back to the 16th century (the Renaissance-era book Polygraphiae) forward to the early 1950s, focusing on artifacts from the Founding Fathers of the United States, the American Civil War, the United States Army Code talkers, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War

* Cold War/Information Age, which deals with cryptology and cryptanalysis on both sides of the Cold War, the early years of NSA, and the rise of the modern age of computers, including the development of supercomputers

* Information Assurance, which deals with the rise of satellite technology, secure voice communications, tamper-evident technologies, and use of biometrics in data protection.
 

National Vigilance Park

Next to the museum is the National Vigilance Park (NVP), where three reconnaissance aircraft are on display.

A U.S. Army Beechcraft RU-8D Seminole reconnaissance plane represents the Army Airborne Signals Intelligence contribution in the Vietnam War. A Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport, modified to look like a reconnaissance-configured C-130A, memorializes a U.S. Air Force aircraft shot down over Soviet Armenia during the Cold War. Finally, the park contains a U.S. Navy Douglas EA-3B Skywarrior, commemorating a mission in the Mediterranean on January 25, 1987 in which all seven crew members died.

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