We know that Washington, DC is the political capital of the United States, and is the location of the federal government. But how often do we think of it as a “spy capital?”

“Spying” and “intelligence” are all about “information.”  The information can be of many kinds; it could be about the plans of the US government or about how its high technology weapons work. Other countries want to know this information, and so they “spy” on the United States. “Counter-intelligence” refers to our efforts to prevent their getting this information. (Of course, we are also interested in their information, so we are doing our own spying on them!)

This spying and counter-spying go back to the beginning of the country.  We all think of George Washington as the general who won the American Revolution, and as our first President. Perhaps your tour group will visit his home at Mount Vernon. You hear many things about George Washington, but you would rarely hear him described as “America’s first spy master.”

Washington was very aware of the importance of having accurate information, and of having it in a “timely manner.” (That means that the information could be great, but it you don’t receive it until it is too late to do anything about it, it’s pretty useless.)  He helped organize spy networks and would give advice to his spies so that the British wouldn’t suspect them.

When you visit the White House, your tour guide may walk you through Lafayette Square, a park right across the street from the north side of the White House where you will be taking photos.  During the Civil War, the area around the White House saw many examples of the Confederates (the Southern states) spying on the US government. And this park was the scene of some of this action. There was one very effective Confederate spy who did something very simple. He would sit in the park for hours, reading his newspaper. And listening.

What did he hear? Well, many of the buildings that we see around the park were being used as military headquarters.  And all too often, soldiers would leave one of these buildings and walk through the park, discussing “secret plans” with their friends. And they never paid any attention to the man sitting there with his newspaper, listening.

Of course, there were several problems with his method.  It didn’t work too well on rainy days or when it was cold and snowy. People might wonder about a man sitting in the pouring-down rain, with a soggy newspaper. So he had other means of collecting “information,” with a network of spies in various government offices.

All around Washington are sites that have espionage and intelligence stories. You might see a spy on your trip to Washington. . .but if he or she is a good spy, you will never know it!