WASHINGTON — A museum honoring the U.S. intelligence community and its history is coming to Loudoun County, Virginia. The National Museum of Intelligence and Special Operations will be located on an eight acre piece of land in the Kincora development, near Dulles International Airport.
Visitors will learn about the history of American intelligence and special operations — a community which includes notable names like French chef Julia Child, James Donovan who was portrayed in “Bridge of Spies,” the architect who designed Dulles Airport and Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg.
The museum will focus specifically on the Office of Strategic Services, which was the World War II-era predecessor to the CIA, the U.S. Special Operations Command and the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
The OSS was the U.S.’ first effort to create a centralized system of intelligence.
The museum will inhabit 56,000 square feet and will include a lobby, permanent and temporary exhibition space, an education center and an auditorium.
“Northern Virginia, which is home to the intelligence community, the U.S. military and major defense contractors, is the ideal location to build it,” said Charles Pinck, president of The OSS Society.
The museum is expected to draw around 100,000 visitors a year and the building will cost around $72 million.
It will open its doors in 2020.
