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The replica is at the International Spy Museum in Washington D.C. and the original is at the NSA Cryptological Museum.

I have seen them both and the replica is a very poor copy of the original wood carving.

Go check out some of the gear in the Spy Museum some time. You would be amazed at how lame and silly some of the CIA equipment has been over the decades, not to mention their instruction manuals (which are often downright bizarre and intentionally hilarious).

Keep in mind that the CIA is not exactly known for recruiting the best and brightest. When it comes to recruits, they have traditionally valued loyalty and obedience over actual intelligence.

To see cool artifacts such as described in this story (since this is evidently a slashvertisement thread) you can go to the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. It's a private museum so it's not free (around $15-18 per person) but I hear it's pretty cool and they've got lots of neat little spy gadgets. (I didn't make it in on my last trip to DC since I was short of time and money. Had lots of fun in the Smithsonians, though.)

When did peace activists (aka "useful idiots") ever protest in front of the Soviet Embassy?

And then there's this: Dietzel told Kliem he was a physicist working for an international research company committed to world peace.

I suspect you think that New Zealanders are "jealous of our freedom" too don't you.

The freedom to not have enough doctors and hospital beds?

Last year, NZ (which doesn't pay it's own doctors enough to stay in NZ) paid My Cousin The Newly-minted Doctor to work there for 6 months. It hardened her, a relative free spirit who lives in the New Orleans French Quarter, against socialized medicine.

And this: Women who get pregnant while in New Zealand on temporary residency permits are being told to leave the country to have their babies because of a shortage of maternity services.

I guess Nevada hates America too because they don't want Yucca Mountain.

Nah, that's just NIMBY.

http://www.spymuseum.org/

The U.S. government is humorous. A recently released FBI report about the compromising ties between a Chinese-American Mata Hari and her FBI-agent lover is a stark reminder that after terrorism, the greatest threat to our national security at home is espionage." (source). Couple this with government employees giving data away, and we've got the making of a new way to spy on the US without planting swallows, cobblers, ravens... I wonder how fast after this service is up will we be reading about a government slip-up via that portal... Anyway, this truly isn't anything new. I've used Google's Uncle Sam search plenty times...

• Spy museum in Washington DC
• North of DC, The NSA crypto museum
• The manly Rocketdyne F1 Saturn V Booster
• More thrust at the Alabama Space and Rocket Center
• Spam king Alan Ralsky's house
• A Lake Washington cruise past Bill's humble abode
• While in Seattle, the Museum of Flight
• North of Seattle is the largest building under 1 continuous roof at Boeing
• That Holy of Holies: Xerox PARC
• Another park, but of the vertical daqueri variety the Ouray Ice Park

the international spy museum in washington, DC. www.spymuseum.org

There are quite a few 'Smithsonian' museums that aren't the American History or Air & Space. [Although, they both do have some nice stuff in 'em]. There's also plenty of stuff in DC that's not run by the Smithsonian.

If you prefer the European style air museums (a hanger, lots of planes) , the Air & Space had an annex, they're working on building a new building out near Dulles Airport, and they're moving the stuff.

For geeks, there's the International Spy Museum, theNational Building Museum and the Arts and Industry building of the Smithsonian.

Oh...and if you want to see the monuments, and it's the summer, take the night tour. You can't go up the Washington, but the Jefferson and Lincoln are much better when they're lit up, it's not crowded, and you're not melting in crappy DC weather.

While you're in DC, go to the basement of the American History museum.

Also of geekly interest in/around DC are the Spy Museum (easy to get to; a couple blocks from the Metro) and the NSA museum (annoying to get to; about a 2-hour bicycle ride from downtown DC or half an hour from Greenbelt Metro).

The FBI tour is a total waste of time. The Bureau of Engraving & Printing (where they make the paper money) was a bit interesting (though a poor ratio of standing in queues to actually seeing stuff) but I believe the tours have been suspended. The Newseum was good but it's now closed until 2006.

The new International Spy Museum in Washington DC has a very nice walk-through of photos taken during the Cuban Missile Crisis... 3 foot tall pictures show the (before and after) construction of facilities on the island.

Combined with intelligence information about a shipment of material on route to Cuba made, they make a very telling case for why the blockade was ordered. My parents claim that the US was never closer to nuclear war than on that day, and the museum does a very good job of putting the story together. I'd definitely recommend a trip.