National Museum of Intelligence and Special Operations

Last updated
National Museum of Intelligence and Special Operations
National Museum of Intelligence and Special Operations
Location Kincora, Loudoun County, Virginia
Coordinates 39°02′21″N77°26′24″W / 39.039103043194224°N 77.43993777176611°W / 39.039103043194224; -77.43993777176611
VisitorsExpected 100,000
FounderCharles Pinck
Curator Patrick Gallagher
Architect Curtis Fentress
Owner OSS Society
Website nationalintelligencemuseum.org

The National Museum of Intelligence and Special Operations is a future private museum in the United States, planned for the area of Kincora, Virginia. [1] As a private museum project of the OSS Society, it was recognized in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023. It was designed by architect Curtis Fentress and Fentress Studios with roughly 14,000 square feet (1,300 m2) of exhibit space, a 6,000-square-foot (560 m2) lobby, and 200-seat educational space. [1] [2] Overall, the museum is expected to be between 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2) and 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2). They expect to host around 100,000 visitors each year. [3] The projected cost of the museum in 2018 was projected to be $81million in 2018, [4] but that projection had increased to $93million in 2019. [5] By 2023, that number had risen to $123,000. [3] Patrick Gallagher is designing the museum exhibit spaces.

In 2015, the OSS Society contacted the Canadian company Lord Cultural Resources to develop the master plan for the museum. Lord drew up plans for staffing, exhibition user experience, capital projections, and other aspects of creating the museum. [6] After this, Fentress Studios was contacted to design the architectural plans. In 2018, the Starr Foundation contributed a gift of $10million to the capital funding. [7]

Originally, when Charles Pink, the President of the OSS Society, announced the creation of the museum and went on funding rounds throughout the DC Beltway area, his plan was to open the museum by 2021. His primary motivation was to honor the less-than-100 living members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) before they died. [5] However, these plans were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the groundbreaking was consistently delayed.

When he was interviewed in 2023, President Pink said that the OSS Society still had plans to build the museum, and told reporters his plans were to break ground on the museum in July 2025 with a target for opening in late 2027. [8]

References

  1. 1 2 Sernovitz, Daniel (2022-12-09). "Defense spending bill recognizes CIA's predecessor — the basis for a future national N. Va. museum". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  2. ↑ "National Museum of Intelligence + Special Operations". Fentress Studios, a Populous Company. Retrieved 2025-12-21.
  3. 1 2 Lehrfeld, Jonathan (2023-01-20). "Defense bill OKs future national intelligence museum". Military Times. Retrieved 2025-12-21.
  4. ↑ "National intelligence museum slated for Kincora receives $10M lead gift". LoudounTimes.com. Dec 18, 2018. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  5. 1 2 "As the last WWII spies die off, a private eye hopes to build a museum to keep their legacy alive". The Washington Post. 2019-02-15. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2025-12-21.
  6. ↑ "National Museum of Intelligence and Special Operations". www.lord.ca. Retrieved 2025-12-21.
  7. ↑ "The Starr Foundation Makes a $10 Million Lead Gift to the National Museum of Intelligence and Special Operations". osssociety.org. PRNewswire. December 17, 2018. Retrieved 2025-12-21.
  8. ↑ Wadsworth, Chris (2023-04-23). "Burning Question: Is the intelligence museum still coming to Ashburn?". The Burn. Retrieved 2023-04-24.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.