WASHINGTON, October 30 (RIA Novosti) – If you’ve always wanted to see a KGB umbrella that fires poison pellets, or a hollow tooth used to hide tiny files full of top-secret data, now’s your chance.
A new exhibit that sheds light on decades of government espionage opened Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, and it’s full of the stuff spy dreams are made of, like a coin loaded with a small but deadly needle, a bug-sized robotic dragonfly used to gather intelligence information, and scores of other cool gadgets most of us can scarcely imagine.
Visitors “will be thrilled as they learn what it means to be an American serving the cause of freedom in a dangerous and difficult world,” said John Heubusch, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, in a press release.
“SPY: The Secret World of Espionage” offers a rare glimpse into the hidden world of patriots, moles and traitors, with everything from “rare and fascinating spy artifacts to Hollywood props, from James Bond films to entertaining, interactive displays,” Heubusch added.
The exhibit was put together in collaboration with the CIA, the FBI and the KGB, and focuses on the period from World War II through the Cold War.
It even includes a mock-up of the US embassy in Moscow, which was heavily bugged by Soviet intelligence agencies, and a display of the ice ax that was used by a Soviet assassin to murder Leon Trotsky in 1940 in Mexico, with blood still visible on the rusty blade, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.
In total the exhibition contains almost 300 spy devices and documents, many of them never seen outside of classified circles, according to the library.
The exhibit runs through March 9
