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Photos: Crazy Spy Artifacts From CIA-Endorsed Spy Exhibit In Times Square


By

Rebecca Fishbein

Published May 19, 2012

Modified May 19, 2012


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Robot fish "Charlie" was invented by CIA’s Directorate of Science to study aquatic robotic movement.

 

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By

Rebecca Fishbein

Published May 19, 2012

Modified May 19, 2012


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Ever wonder what kind of technology the CIA uses to listen in on your phone calls? A new spy exhibition in Manhattan might prove enlightening! Spy: The Secret World of Espionage opened yesterday at Discovery Times Square, and as long as you're willing to fight off busloads of tourists, you can check out hundreds fun spy tools and artifacts from the CIA and FBI, as well a number of intelligence items collected by spy book author and espionage enthusiast H. Keith Melton.

The exhibition features vintage spook technology like WWII-era code-making machines as well as some more unique intelligence inventions, like Robot Fish "Charlie," a remote-controlled robotic catfish (yes, a robot catfish) and the Insectohopter, a robotic dragonfly used for aerial surveillance in the 1970s.

The exhibit even includes the Chanel purse carried by Russian spy Anna Chapman, who has gone back to Mother Russia and has been welcomed as a pin-up hero and possible mistress of Vladimir Putin.

Tickets cost $25, and can be purchased in advance here.

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anna chapman

c.i.a.

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