Jejune institute vibes
Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy
11–20 of 65 posts
Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy
#12In the late 1990s a friend of mine gave me a birthday gift: two tickets to Spy Drive. Now THAT was something that could only happen in DC.
Oleg Kalugin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_Kalugin) was a former head of the KGB at the Russian Embassy in DC in the 1980s. When Oleg returned to Russia, his criticism of the KGB led him to be stripped of his rank and eventually exiled to the USA to avoid serious recriminations in Russia. He was eventually tried in abstentia. It was in DC where he teamed up for a while with David Major, a retired spymaster for the FBI and former adversary, and together they did what could only be done in Washington DC: they ran a paid bus tour.
You heard that right. For $80, we'd get on the bus, and then these two former spymasters on opposite sides of the cold war would get up in the front of the bus with microphones and take us to various dead drops, mark locations, famous spy meeting locations, and so on, and tell stories the whole way, and joke about how one was gonna arrest the other. It was insane. It was glorious.
Both of them later were recruited to be on the advisory board of the Spy Museum, and it is my understanding that Oleg was very effective at acquiring a lot of stuff for the museum from the former KGB.
Edit: in case people don't believe me...
https://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/upi/9cc8f17c411182bd874...
Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy
#13“See the best of Washington DC” -> sends you to Rosslyn. Those poor tourists… Joking aside I love fun new excuses to explore the city, that’s a great theme for DC.
Is that a bad area? Though I guess here in Barcelona tourists love crowding Raval which is also a really bad area full of narco flats.
No, it's a pretty nice area. But it's not in DC.
Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy
#14It would be funny if this was actually orchestrated by a foreign power as a way of collecting real intel. "Break into the oval office and take a photo of any documents you find there. Upload your photos to advance to the next level"
I can see the Yelp reviews now: `That White House escape room was really too hard, though +1 for the “Guard”’s guns that gave me the impression they were firing real bullets! Don’t try if you are out of shape — a lot of running is required!
Now I m stuck in the “prison” part of the game and haven’t been able to figure out how to get out and advance to the next level.
Only two stars because it’s really too hard for normal people.’
Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy
#15In the late 1990s a friend of mine gave me a birthday gift: two tickets to Spy Drive. Now THAT was something that could only happen in DC. Oleg Kalugin ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_Kalugin ) was a former head of the KGB at the Russian Embassy in DC in the 1980s. When Oleg returned to Russia, his criticism of the KGB led him to be stripped of his rank and eventually exiled to the USA to avoid serious recrimina…
This is why I keep coming back to HN. I would never have come across this otherwise.
Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy
#16>Take your time, progress at your own pace...
Which Agency is recruiting?
Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy
#17Electronic Arts tried something like this once. It was called "Majestic". [1] It was sort of a mass-market conspiracy LARP. Unfortunately, it was launched just before 9/11/2001.
Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy
#18In the late 1990s a friend of mine gave me a birthday gift: two tickets to Spy Drive. Now THAT was something that could only happen in DC. Oleg Kalugin ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_Kalugin ) was a former head of the KGB at the Russian Embassy in DC in the 1980s. When Oleg returned to Russia, his criticism of the KGB led him to be stripped of his rank and eventually exiled to the USA to avoid serious recrimina…
I've been to that museum and was most struck by the small section about Einstein informing the president at the time that the math meant nukes were possible and likely would exist in the short term. There's a lot of cool stuff in that museum, but that's the one that stuck with me. It's written with a typewriter and signed by Einstein, iirc.
Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy
#19> What if the weather is bad?
You're a spy. Suck it up, and take a lesson from the USPS.
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."
Re: Explore Washington DC through the eyes of a spy
#20In the late 1990s a friend of mine gave me a birthday gift: two tickets to Spy Drive. Now THAT was something that could only happen in DC. Oleg Kalugin ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_Kalugin ) was a former head of the KGB at the Russian Embassy in DC in the 1980s. When Oleg returned to Russia, his criticism of the KGB led him to be stripped of his rank and eventually exiled to the USA to avoid serious recrimina…
I've been to that museum and was most struck by the small section about Einstein informing the president at the time that the math meant nukes were possible and likely would exist in the short term. There's a lot of cool stuff in that museum, but that's the one that stuck with me. It's written with a typewriter and signed by Einstein, iirc.
It's rather famous. Written by Leo Szilard but signed by Einstein who later seemed to regret it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%E2%80%93Szilard_lette...
I don't understand why it would be in the Spy Museum.