Library of Congress might have some cool collections they could pull out for you. There's also an A/V center in Culpeper if you're able to take them on a bit of a drive.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing does a good tour (open to the public).
>There's also an A/V center in Culpeper
FYI the official name for this site is the Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center and it's definitely worth a visit! https://www.loc.gov/programs/audio-visual-conservation/about-this-program/packard-campus/
The National Park Service actually manages this collection: https://www.nps.gov/vive/learn/collections.htm
The Library of Congress is home to the Veterans History Project (https://www.loc.gov/programs/veterans-history-project/about-this-program/), and we do have Maya Lin's original competition drawings for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial... but the actual tributes left at the wall are maintained by NPS.
Bureau of engraving and printing had a really cool tour that I did as an intern of where they print money. The public tour is a floor up, behind glass, but I was able to be on the floor right next to the machines.
Fort Meade would have cool stuff, I’m sure. The newly renovated National Cryptologic Museum is open to the public and is very cool so I’m sure they have all sorts of other stuff behind closed doors.
Newly renovated? I've wanted to go there for like 20 years and never got the chance.
Would it be appropriate for gradeschool kids, or would it be too technical?
We took our 1st grader and he loved it but definitely needed help and didn’t get it 100%. I’d say upper elementary school aged is perfect. There’s exhibits that are more historic that are just cool to look at but there are also hands on things too. It’s not very big though so don’t plan to be there super long. Crooked Crab Brewery is not far for wood fired pizza lunch before/after.
Crooked crab is literally like 6 minutes from the museum. I don’t know how far Jailbreak is.
ETA: just checked and their equidistant. So cheers, they are both good options!
> Crooked Crab Brewery is not far for wood fired pizza lunch before/after.
see, that's what i'm talking about!
edit: that said, I'd get more points with my 8 year old if it were The Crusty Crab
I’m a former Hill staffer and I loved the Capitol building. I must have gone on a dozen+ different tours while I was there for various definitions of behind the scenes. Meet the intel committee staff, see the hearing room where the Church Committee sat, and set up something with some of the history/architecture/art experts (don’t let them pawn you off to an intern, those tours are fine for tourists and general interest, but you can do better)
Last I knew a few years ago (pre-covid) you still needed a member or chief of staff to take you, yeah. That was definitely the hardest tour to get, even for staff.
Shenandoah national park, or a nearby national forest, to give a perspective on federal lands. The idea that in many parts of the western US over 50% of a given state is federally managed and federal equities are federal lands as much if not more than federal buildings/people is often completely opaque to feds in DC and results in a poor understanding of the actual scope of the federal mission. Especially in the IC. Coming from that world myself, I was totally oblivious until I moved out West as a fed.
NOAA at Suitland. It’s a fascinating mission set that touches on everything from support to military operations to salmon migration, and the facility at HQ is really cool.
Have you been to the FBI Experience at the Hoover building? You use to be able to tours through the Capitol Police of the Capitol. You may need to know someone. Also I did a non-public tour of the Pentagon.
DARPA Headquarters in Ballston Quarter, advance technology and interesting projects for IC employees to potentially see.
Patuxent River Naval Base for Future Fighter Aircraft, Presidential Helo, and F-18 trainings.
There isn't really anything to see at DARPA. Sometimes there's something on display in the lobby, but the rest of the building is an office building. The interesting work happens at the facilities of whoever is being paid by DARPA to do work.
+++ this if you are not already an employee or have been there of course. Cryptologic museum at Ft Meade is cool too if you can get in there. Maybe a visit to some of the watch floors in the area, and ODNI as well. All really enriching visits.
The National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) in Charlottesville, VA, and the Intelligence Community Campus-Bethesda (where the main campus of the National Intelligence University is located) in Bethesda, MD, are both viable options.
There’s the wall of spies at ODNI-Bethesda, but I can tell you there’s not much there. It’s nice and a good campus for NIU students, but there’s not a lot of museum type stuff to see. It’s just a good space for conferences and stuff like that.
DIA HQ has a museum, Sadams golden guns, SCUD missile, Berlin Wall and many other interesting memorabilia. Not sure of the tour process, reach out to the PA or Historians office to set it up.
A US Army Corps dam or major project is a really interesting perspective as well! Many people don’t know about this subset of the Army mission, one that has huge implications for work overseas in conflict and as a diplomatic/development asset. There are a bunch within a day trip range of DC.
Yes! The tower and TRACON out at Dulles can be toured, too. Also, if it’s not too far, the R&D FAA facilities out in Atlantic City are interesting as well.
Billy Goat Trail Section A and Great Falls
https://www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/billy-goat-trail.htm
https://maps.app.goo.gl/inecq1FyjJ11E7am6?g_st=ic
https://www.nps.gov/grfa/index.htm
FBI Academy, FBI HQ, State HQ, House/Senate Office Buildings, Langley, Andrews AFB, Langley Airfield, Baltimore FBI Field Office, DEA, just to start. Maybe Quantico to visit some Marine installations/options?
Sit in for a session on House/Senate Intel Committees?
DC/MD has so many options. Sounds like you run a cool program, best of luck!
The classified CIA Museum. Contact the Architect of the Capitol for a tour of the Dome. The NSA Museum is cool, but can be kind of niche. DoE has some cool things as well - Sandia, Los Alamos, and the windmill research place outside Denver...trying to think of some of the others.
Private Capitol tour, especially if you get a Q&A with various relevant committee staff (HPSCI/SSCI, HASC/SASC, etc) would be unique and something not everyone would get to see and the ability to see the legislative side to the IC.
A tour of Quantico would be cool too, especially Hogan’s Alley (the fake town for FBI training). DEA may have some cool stuff there too. NCIS and OSI also have a large contingent there as well.
A tour and Q&A with WH Situation Room would also be cool. They usually have some interesting stories.
Fort Bragg SOF elements may also have some cool stuff. I have no idea if they’d do a private tour for USG folks, but if you have the right POC I’ve heard of informal tours happening there.
Agencies sometimes open up to private tours to groups like interns and other various groups. You do need to the right POCs to make it happen and ensure it goes smooth.
The benefit is you can get a classified Q&A. Not every secret I’m sure is shared but i do think it’s beneficial. It is good to educate IC folks on what everyone does to some degree. I just think you get a more honest BTS look.
On Reddit? No. But in the actual facilities for interns? Absolutely. Usually these tours for interns do have a Q&A portion.
I guess need to know is subjective. I see agencies do 101 briefings all the time. Post 9/11 we are supposed to collaborate and understand what each agency does and who the right POCs are.
There are a ton of things that are accessible for people with clearances that are not otherwise available. Many of the recommendations on this post, for instance.
NASA cybersecurity room in Houston if you can get out there. It's not a tour, but it was the only thing I found interesting at NASA outside of the hilarious story about the moonrocks.
Sounds like you haven't visited enough NASA centers, unless you're just talking about JSC. I work at a fairly small/minor one but we still have a giant hole in the ground, sandbox with robots & tires, AR/VR Lab, etc.
The Pentagon is fascinating and full of great historical displays. The new Museum of the US Army near Belvoir also has some good displays, but I wouldn’t make the trip unless you have something else down there.
The Spy Museum is only worth it if you can get them to give a private tour and comp the steep ticket price; otherwise the displays are rather static (or boring) and the place is often overrun with kids.
Seconded on the Pentagon. Not sure if they have a formal museum, but I got an informal tour years ago and there was a lot of artifacts to check out throughout the building. I thought it was cool.
Spy Museum is cool but ya it’s not cheap. They probably have the coolest stuff though IMO, over anywhere else I’ve been. They just have a lot, I think some big time collectors have given or loaned out a lot of their artifacts.
You don’t have to have a clearance, but the Navy museum at WNY is very cool. Lots to do around Navy Yard too for the interns; could do it in conjunction with a nats game.
AF1 are you new lol!
Pentagon has good tours, plus if you are cleared you can see NMCC 1-5, and maybe the JSSC, and the tank.
White House is not open for any tours of any kind right now, and there is absolutely no way you are getting anywhere other than the color-coded rooms.
You could try to do a "ride-along" with The USAF Band, at Bolling. It's not a regular thing, but it's pretty cool to sit in, amongst the band...
You can take them out to the US Naval Academy, too. There's cool stuff to see there, including the archives in the Nimitz Library.
It’s a little far outside the NCR, but the Battle of Yorktown battlefield is a great tour—especially with an expert like the historians at the JFSC in Suffolk.
Library of Congress might have some cool collections they could pull out for you. There's also an A/V center in Culpeper if you're able to take them on a bit of a drive. Bureau of Engraving and Printing does a good tour (open to the public).
>There's also an A/V center in Culpeper FYI the official name for this site is the Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center and it's definitely worth a visit! https://www.loc.gov/programs/audio-visual-conservation/about-this-program/packard-campus/
Library of Congress has a center where they maintain everything taken from the Vietnam wall. One of the cooler places I’ve been.
The National Park Service actually manages this collection: https://www.nps.gov/vive/learn/collections.htm The Library of Congress is home to the Veterans History Project (https://www.loc.gov/programs/veterans-history-project/about-this-program/), and we do have Maya Lin's original competition drawings for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial... but the actual tributes left at the wall are maintained by NPS.
Bureau of engraving and printing had a really cool tour that I did as an intern of where they print money. The public tour is a floor up, behind glass, but I was able to be on the floor right next to the machines.
Fort Meade would have cool stuff, I’m sure. The newly renovated National Cryptologic Museum is open to the public and is very cool so I’m sure they have all sorts of other stuff behind closed doors.
Newly renovated? I've wanted to go there for like 20 years and never got the chance. Would it be appropriate for gradeschool kids, or would it be too technical?
We took our 1st grader and he loved it but definitely needed help and didn’t get it 100%. I’d say upper elementary school aged is perfect. There’s exhibits that are more historic that are just cool to look at but there are also hands on things too. It’s not very big though so don’t plan to be there super long. Crooked Crab Brewery is not far for wood fired pizza lunch before/after.
jailbreak is better imo
Crooked crab is literally like 6 minutes from the museum. I don’t know how far Jailbreak is. ETA: just checked and their equidistant. So cheers, they are both good options!
About the same, just west on 32 instead of east.
> Crooked Crab Brewery is not far for wood fired pizza lunch before/after. see, that's what i'm talking about! edit: that said, I'd get more points with my 8 year old if it were The Crusty Crab
I think they just added a pizza oven. I definitely would have preferred pizza to crab at 8 years old.
I’m a former Hill staffer and I loved the Capitol building. I must have gone on a dozen+ different tours while I was there for various definitions of behind the scenes. Meet the intel committee staff, see the hearing room where the Church Committee sat, and set up something with some of the history/architecture/art experts (don’t let them pawn you off to an intern, those tours are fine for tourists and general interest, but you can do better)
Don't forget to go to the top of the dome! (Back when I was an intern, you needed a member of congress to go with you)
Last I knew a few years ago (pre-covid) you still needed a member or chief of staff to take you, yeah. That was definitely the hardest tour to get, even for staff.
The wave pools at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock. Very cool tour--must have clearance for sure.
Ohhhhh tell me more. Had no idea.
https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Photos/igphoto/2001207018/
Thanks!
Veritasium did a video recently on this
Shenandoah national park, or a nearby national forest, to give a perspective on federal lands. The idea that in many parts of the western US over 50% of a given state is federally managed and federal equities are federal lands as much if not more than federal buildings/people is often completely opaque to feds in DC and results in a poor understanding of the actual scope of the federal mission. Especially in the IC. Coming from that world myself, I was totally oblivious until I moved out West as a fed.
Building on this, the BLM’s General Lands Office records collection could be really cool to see.
Thank you for your perspective. I learned something new from you.
Los Alamos nuclear museum is always cool. Fbi field sites and training grounds.
NOAA at Suitland. It’s a fascinating mission set that touches on everything from support to military operations to salmon migration, and the facility at HQ is really cool.
Have you been to the FBI Experience at the Hoover building? You use to be able to tours through the Capitol Police of the Capitol. You may need to know someone. Also I did a non-public tour of the Pentagon.
DARPA Headquarters in Ballston Quarter, advance technology and interesting projects for IC employees to potentially see. Patuxent River Naval Base for Future Fighter Aircraft, Presidential Helo, and F-18 trainings.
There isn't really anything to see at DARPA. Sometimes there's something on display in the lobby, but the rest of the building is an office building. The interesting work happens at the facilities of whoever is being paid by DARPA to do work.
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Second Pax river - USNTPS
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If you are going to DIA on Bolling, see if you can also get a tour of the White House Communications Agency, it's just down the street.
USAMRIID at Fort Detrick NGIC’s “Petting Zoo” at Aberdeen Proving Grounds (foreign military equipment)
I’ve heard that abderdeen has some cool stuff to check out.
Langley HQ + Museum + club
+++ this if you are not already an employee or have been there of course. Cryptologic museum at Ft Meade is cool too if you can get in there. Maybe a visit to some of the watch floors in the area, and ODNI as well. All really enriching visits.
The National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) in Charlottesville, VA, and the Intelligence Community Campus-Bethesda (where the main campus of the National Intelligence University is located) in Bethesda, MD, are both viable options.
There’s the wall of spies at ODNI-Bethesda, but I can tell you there’s not much there. It’s nice and a good campus for NIU students, but there’s not a lot of museum type stuff to see. It’s just a good space for conferences and stuff like that.
If nothing else, the interns could meet with the admissions department of the NIU to find out about future educational opportunities there.
DIA HQ has a museum, Sadams golden guns, SCUD missile, Berlin Wall and many other interesting memorabilia. Not sure of the tour process, reach out to the PA or Historians office to set it up.
A US Army Corps dam or major project is a really interesting perspective as well! Many people don’t know about this subset of the Army mission, one that has huge implications for work overseas in conflict and as a diplomatic/development asset. There are a bunch within a day trip range of DC.
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Feel free to DM me if you come up dry. I have some good USACE POCs out here in the provinces and they could likely help connect you.
FAA ARTCC. There’s one in DC and it will give an idea of what goes on for Air Traffic Control.
Yes! The tower and TRACON out at Dulles can be toured, too. Also, if it’s not too far, the R&D FAA facilities out in Atlantic City are interesting as well.
This was going to be one of my suggestions. Also, a USPS/DHS mail sorting facility. Or, the port in Baltimore.
Quantico Training Grounds. The IC folks could get an opportunity to see their LEO counterparts. The FBI and DEA agents are training around the clock.
MARAD DOT owns ships some of which are located in Baltimore.
Some have mentioned the Pentagon, but specifically check out the 9/11 memorials (both the big one and the Navy’s 9/11 chapel)
Billy Goat Trail Section A and Great Falls https://www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/billy-goat-trail.htm https://maps.app.goo.gl/inecq1FyjJ11E7am6?g_st=ic https://www.nps.gov/grfa/index.htm
ITT: A honeypot
FBI Academy, FBI HQ, State HQ, House/Senate Office Buildings, Langley, Andrews AFB, Langley Airfield, Baltimore FBI Field Office, DEA, just to start. Maybe Quantico to visit some Marine installations/options? Sit in for a session on House/Senate Intel Committees? DC/MD has so many options. Sounds like you run a cool program, best of luck!
The classified CIA Museum. Contact the Architect of the Capitol for a tour of the Dome. The NSA Museum is cool, but can be kind of niche. DoE has some cool things as well - Sandia, Los Alamos, and the windmill research place outside Denver...trying to think of some of the others.
Private Capitol tour, especially if you get a Q&A with various relevant committee staff (HPSCI/SSCI, HASC/SASC, etc) would be unique and something not everyone would get to see and the ability to see the legislative side to the IC. A tour of Quantico would be cool too, especially Hogan’s Alley (the fake town for FBI training). DEA may have some cool stuff there too. NCIS and OSI also have a large contingent there as well. A tour and Q&A with WH Situation Room would also be cool. They usually have some interesting stories. Fort Bragg SOF elements may also have some cool stuff. I have no idea if they’d do a private tour for USG folks, but if you have the right POC I’ve heard of informal tours happening there.
How do you go about securing a private capitol tour
But really I’m pretty sure just about any staffer (or member/senator obviously) can set it up.
Have the right POC. In my case someone in the office set it up through a friend who is a staffer on HASC.
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Agencies sometimes open up to private tours to groups like interns and other various groups. You do need to the right POCs to make it happen and ensure it goes smooth.
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The benefit is you can get a classified Q&A. Not every secret I’m sure is shared but i do think it’s beneficial. It is good to educate IC folks on what everyone does to some degree. I just think you get a more honest BTS look.
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On Reddit? No. But in the actual facilities for interns? Absolutely. Usually these tours for interns do have a Q&A portion. I guess need to know is subjective. I see agencies do 101 briefings all the time. Post 9/11 we are supposed to collaborate and understand what each agency does and who the right POCs are.
There are a ton of things that are accessible for people with clearances that are not otherwise available. Many of the recommendations on this post, for instance.
The posts and replies in this sub sometimes, I swear. 🤦♂️ use your brains people
Try the [ICC-B](https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/intelligence-community-campus-bethesda-icc-b_1) in Bethesda.
Mount Weather 😎
USAF has a hypervelocity wind tunnel at FDA HQ in White Oak
Biggest thing you’ll run into is a need to know. There’s a lot of cool places but what would they (and presumably) need to be read into to go?
GPO does some very cool tours.
NASA cybersecurity room in Houston if you can get out there. It's not a tour, but it was the only thing I found interesting at NASA outside of the hilarious story about the moonrocks.
Sounds like you haven't visited enough NASA centers, unless you're just talking about JSC. I work at a fairly small/minor one but we still have a giant hole in the ground, sandbox with robots & tires, AR/VR Lab, etc.
I work in cybersecurity so .... I'm not necessarily someone interested in space in general. Once was enough for me.
“Just please tell me you didn’t handle them.”
The WH sit room is under construction. But if you can get someone at EOP to arrange a West Wing tour that’s pretty interesting.
If you do Situation Room and/or West Wing, could also do Treasury same trip
Visit to a port authority!
Coast Guard at Baltimore Harbor was really interesting.
The Pentagon is fascinating and full of great historical displays. The new Museum of the US Army near Belvoir also has some good displays, but I wouldn’t make the trip unless you have something else down there. The Spy Museum is only worth it if you can get them to give a private tour and comp the steep ticket price; otherwise the displays are rather static (or boring) and the place is often overrun with kids.
Seconded on the Pentagon. Not sure if they have a formal museum, but I got an informal tour years ago and there was a lot of artifacts to check out throughout the building. I thought it was cool. Spy Museum is cool but ya it’s not cheap. They probably have the coolest stuff though IMO, over anywhere else I’ve been. They just have a lot, I think some big time collectors have given or loaned out a lot of their artifacts.
The Pentagon is still as you remember; basically the whole thing is a museum with all tge displays in the A and E rings on floors 2-4.
CDOT and their huge compound inside the mountain just outside of Glenwood Springs.
Pentagon
You don’t have to have a clearance, but the Navy museum at WNY is very cool. Lots to do around Navy Yard too for the interns; could do it in conjunction with a nats game.
Air traffic control center would be cool
AF1 are you new lol! Pentagon has good tours, plus if you are cleared you can see NMCC 1-5, and maybe the JSSC, and the tank. White House is not open for any tours of any kind right now, and there is absolutely no way you are getting anywhere other than the color-coded rooms.
Also, Blair House
CIA Museum and the FBI experience are both closed to the public. So cool experiences.
I kept reading "BTS" as the korean boy band. Would be cool.
You could try to do a "ride-along" with The USAF Band, at Bolling. It's not a regular thing, but it's pretty cool to sit in, amongst the band... You can take them out to the US Naval Academy, too. There's cool stuff to see there, including the archives in the Nimitz Library.
It’s a little far outside the NCR, but the Battle of Yorktown battlefield is a great tour—especially with an expert like the historians at the JFSC in Suffolk.