At spy exhibit, tradecraft trumps digital data dumps

As WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden, the leaker of National Security Agency documents, continue to dominate the headlines, one can wonder how the business of exposing government secrets has become, well, rather mundane, a matter of vast digital data dumps.

It’s a long way from the intrigue and seduction of the fictional world of an Ian Fleming novel. Computer hackers armed with cracked clearance codes — instead of exploding cigars or magnetic watches with rotating saws — are now the stars.

For those nostalgic for old-school spy contraptions and dark alley intel drops, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum is offering a peek into the lives of secret agents, cool gadgets and the true stories behind the covert missions that shaped history with the exhibit “Spy: The Secret World of Espionage.”

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“Various artifacts in the show speak to the Cold War era which Reagan is quite famous for,” said John Heubusch, executive director of the museum. “There’s a strong connection between the exhibit, the role of the presidency and the federal agencies that execute intelligence missions on the administration’s behalf.”

The majority of the 300 artifacts and documents on display, many never before seen by civilians, are on loan from the vast private collection of intelligence historian H. Keith Melton, a former naval officer and founding member of the International Spy Museum in Washington.

“The golden age of hidden cameras in cigarette packs is probably fading, but it’s so much more fascinating,” said Melton, referring to the gadgets that were the lifeblood of espionage. He has written several books on spying who also serves as technical advisor for the Cold War TV series, “The Americans.”

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Although many items on view were used by the KGB and the East German Stasi, a few experimental pieces of equipment created by the Office of Strategic Services, the WWII precursor to the CIA, are worth noting. There’s a motorized, semi-submersible one-man submarine for placing explosives on the sides of enemy warships, and a collapsible motor scooter delivered via parachute, assembled in 10 seconds, that served as a getaway vehicle for agents behind enemy lines.

Some of the declassified artifacts and devices resemble props from a spy-spoof movie.

There’s the poisonous ricin-pellet-shooting KGB umbrella thought to be the weapon that assassinated Bulgarian defector and BBC reporter Georgi Markov in London in 1978. And yes, even a tricked-out “Get Smart”-style shoe. Worn by the U.S. ambassador to Czechoslovakia, a secret compartment in the heel was bugged with an eavesdropping device by Czech intelligence. Other standouts include a modified tooth for hiding microdots and a flying robotic dragonfly.

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A suicide pin coated in saxitoxin, a lethal poison concealed in a silver dollar issued to U-2 pilot Gary Powers before his spy plane crashed over Russia in 1960, serves as a harsh reminder of the perilous nature of the work.

The original script and storyboards from the “Argo” mission are on display, but the crown jewel of the collection is the ice ax used to kill Russian Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Mexico in 1940.

Interactive displays that alter your voice, disguise your face and a laser maze provide a firsthand spy experience. For 007 fans, there’s a side gallery with costumes, props and weapons from several James Bond films.

The exhibit runs through March 9.

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