National Cryptologic Museum, National intelligence museum in Annapolis Junction, United States.
The National Cryptologic Museum is a history museum in Annapolis Junction, Maryland focused on code-making and code-breaking throughout American intelligence operations. The collection includes cipher machines, decryption devices, and documents spanning several centuries of secret communications.
This museum opened in December 1993 in a former motel building near Fort Meade. Several expansions over the years have increased exhibition space to accommodate additional artifacts from American intelligence history.
The facility maintains exhibits about Native American code talkers and numerous international coding systems that influenced national security throughout modern history.
The museum sits two blocks from NSA headquarters and opens Tuesday through Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM, with extended hours until 7 PM on Wednesdays. Entry is free, and most exhibition rooms are accessible at ground level.
The exhibits include working German Enigma machines and a Navy Bombe decryption device from World War II. Visitors can examine these original cryptographic instruments up close and understand their mechanical components.
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