Participants will need to get on and off the motor coach. Expect to stand for up to 1 hour at a time. The drive time to the National Cryptologic Museum is approximately 45 minutes and we may encounter city traffic.
At the hotel, enjoy a full American breakfast buffet including coffee, water, juice and tea.
Start this morning off with a field trip to the National Cryptologic Museum, adjacent to the National Security Agency headquarters at Fort Meade in Maryland. The museum is the NSA’s principal public portal. Its thousands of artifacts preserve and illuminate the history of cryptology. We'll start our exploration of the Cryptologic Museum with a volunteer museum member. As we go through the halls with our docent, we will learn how codes are “broken” and explore the museum's collection of Enigma Machines.
We will enjoy boxed lunches
Continue our stay at the National Cryptologic Museum with a visit from a National Security Agency officer. From the neighboring base, our speaker will provide an overview of the NSA and describe the roles and responsibilities for today's NSA officers. After our field trip, we return to the hotel for an afternoon lecture related to our program. Professor Wiant takes you into the world of espionage discussing such basic things as 'what is espionage' to how spies are recruited and the importance of tradecraft in running spies. Along the way he illustrates with fascinating spy stories, all true -- but not necessarily factual for the 'real secret of our success is the secret of our success'
Dinner buffet at the hotel.
Enjoy another lecture from our expert, Jon Wiant. This is the other side of the clandestine world. Rather than filching secrets, covert action is preoccupied with influencing historical developments without revealing the practicing hand. This can range from agents of influence operations and black propaganda through influencing political and economic outcomes to full paramilitary support for resistance and guerrilla movements. It can also include various assistance we provide foreign governments without public acknowledgement. The professor will examine the policy framework in which the government makes decisions to engage in covert action and then will look in detail at historical examples of different kinds of covert action. Covert Action, you will learn, is as American as Cherry Pie.