Chapter 22 Connection Task Spies

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was started by the U.S. government after WW II in 1947 to protect national security against the axis powers. The CIA is responsible for collecting intelligence through human sources and correlating and evaluating intelligence. The CIA collects data about foreign government, corporations, and individuals, advises public policy makers and accomplishes covert operations. In the CIA building headquarters in Washington D.C. they have a museum of the history of different spy gadgets created and used throughout the world. Although tours are not offered in this museum some of the items on display include a helicopter dragonfly, a micro dot camera, and a motion detector that looks like poop. The helicopter dragonfly was the first insect vehicle. The motion detector that looks like animal droppings was created to detect motion of people, animals, and objects 300 meters away. It was intended to blend in with the terrain. The microdot camera could take pictures so small that they could fit on the end of a period of a sentence. This museum is not open to the public but on the CIA website people can take a virtual tour of some of the spy museum’s gadgets. In Washington D.C. there is a museum that is open to the public called the International Spy Museum. I plan to go there someday when I am Washington with my sister Michelle.

When I was much younger I had always wanted to be in the CIA. I wanted to be a spy agent traveling the world and using cool gadgets. I wanted to work for the CIA because it looked fun, exciting, you get to travel the world, and dress up like someone else. When I was in 9th grade I did a school report on espionage and it was extremely fascinating. I dressed up in a typical trench coat and hat with dark glasses and presented my project. I still think it’s cool but I have realized the true implications of what being a spy could really entail and I don’t want to be a spy anymore.