Name: National Security Agency: Docent-Led Tour of the Cryptologic Museum (With Lunch)
Start: 2024-12-07T10:00:00-05:00
End: 2024-12-07T14:00:00-05:00

We will get a tour of this amazing facility at no cost (our taxes already paid for it). We will have a NSA employee as our docent. Make sure you answer the corollary lunch question when you RSVP. Only sign up is you are definitely coming.

The National Security Agency's principal gateway to the public is its National Cryptologic Museum. It shares the nation's cryptologic legacy and foremost place in world history. Located adjacent to NSA's two Ops buildings, on a sprawling Army base, the facility houses a collection of thousands of artifacts that collectively serve to sustain the history of the cryptologic profession. Here, we will get a first-hand glimpse of some of the most dramatic moments in the history of American cryptology, to include the people who devoted their lives to cryptology and our national defense, the machines and devices they developed, the techniques they used, and the places where they worked. Many events in American and world history will take on a new meaning for us. Originally designed to house artifacts from NSA and to give its employees a place to reflect on past successes and failures, the Cryptologic Museum comprises a priceless collection of our nation's cryptologic history. It is the first and only public museum in the US Intelligence Community, and it will allow us to get a (legal) peek into the secret world of codemaking and codebreaking.

When you RSVP, make sure that you answer the corollary meal question with a "YES" or a "NO" (one word) when you make your RSVP. Use Chrome to log in with your username and password and go to the full Meetup Desktop version and not the abbreviated Meetup App, when you RSVP. Again, please indicate if you are attending lunch by writing either YES or NO in the box. Do not RSVP if you will be a no-show, you will be late, or you will cancel right before the event "because something came up."

If anyone wants a ride, please contact me offline at BCianflone@yahoo.com to see if the logistics will work.

You may take photographs inside the facility except where prohibited (i.e., by the classified documents library as well as facing the two Ops buildings). Do not use a flash on any of the original declassified documents. Under no condition may you point a camera or a wireless instrument or any other item towards the two Ops Buildings (the DOD Police will confiscate any such instruments).

Please read the entire activity write-up before you RSVP, and only RSVP if you can definitely attend. You must stay with the group at all times. This unclassified tour will be completely on NSA property, within the confines of Fort George Meade, Maryland. This area is controlled by the Department of Defense. The NSA is Maryland's biggest employer, and, budget-wise, it is the largest intelligence agency in the world.

If you remember the Oscar-winning film "The Imitation Game," we will see the only surviving machine that was used against the Nazis and upon which the movie was based - this machine shortened the world war and saved millions of lives.

We will see the Washington-Moscow Hotline. This telecommunications system was one of the Agency's creations meant to keep the world safe from an all-out nuclear war. A mainframe we will see has 45 miles of wiring inside it. It also requires a 50-ton refrigeration unit to keep it cool when it is processing data.

Bring a camera and you can take pictures in the designated areas where it is allowed.

**Here is the address for NSA's NCM (use Waze):**
**8290 Colony Seven Road, Annapolis Junction, Maryland**

Park in the free lot next to the National Cryptologic Museum (NCM) and then enter the Museum's single entrance. Do not enter any the lanes heading to the two Ops buildings, since you are not authorized to be there. Be aware that GPS systems may become inoperable in certain locations downrange from the satellite dishes.

Here is the weather report for the area updated in real time:
[http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=39.11583727970662&lon=-76.76456451416016#.Uv4PyLQhmaN](http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=39.11583727970662&lon=-76.76456451416016#.Uv4PyLQhmaN)

After the tour, at about noon, we will drive to a great area restaurant for lunch: Mamma Roma. The restaurant will have an area reserved for us. This is a place with excellent food at reasonable prices, and it has won many food awards.

**Mamma Roma is at 8743 Piney Orchard Parkway, in Odenton, Maryland.**
Here is the web site (go to the Odenton restaurant):
[https://www.mammaromas.com/](https://www.mammaromas.com/)

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National Security Agency: Docent-Led Tour of the Cryptologic Museum (With Lunch)

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National Security Agency: Docent-Led Tour of the Cryptologic Museum (With Lunch)

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