LI spy museum to open this spring
Michael J. Sulick, a 28-year-veteran of the CIA and former director of the U.S. National Clandestine Service, is the chairman of the board for the Long Island Spy Museum. (2010) Credit: US Government
The spies are coming . . . to Stony Brook.
The role of spies and how they shaped American history will take center stage at the Long Island Spy Museum, set to open in late spring in Stony Brook.
The new two-level museum at 275 Christian Ave. will trace the evolution of intelligence-gathering from Long Island's own Culper Spy Ring that helped win the Revolutionary War to espionage after 9/11.
"I think with the modern-day problems that we're facing like terrorism, intelligence is really important," said Michael Gilbert, the museum's chief operating officer.
Construction is under way inside a building that once served as a firehouse. When finished, Gilbert said, the 6,000-square-foot space will be big on interactivity. Visitors will be invited to climb into a surveillance van to manipulate cameras and listen to conversations and head through a secret passage concealed as a bookcase.
Exhibits will include spy gadgets such as a shaving kit that doubles as a radio device, and objects from World War II-era Office of Strategic Service agents: a knife thrown by chef Julia Child, and a jacket from "The Godfather" actor Sterling Hayden.
Gilbert said plans also include a high-tech "Spy Bus" that will transport Long Island students to and from the museum -- offsetting costs for schools.
The nonprofit museum was founded in 2010 by a group of former and current intelligence officers from Long Island whose identities -- fittingly -- can't be revealed because of the classified nature of their work. Two years and $2 million in private donations later, board members include Michael J. Sulick, a CIA veteran and former director of the U.S. National Clandestine Service.
Although there is much in the tight-lipped industry that can't be discussed for security reasons, Sulick said the museum is designed to teach "not only the successes of intelligence, but the failures and limits."
The Long Island Spy Museum is hosting a series of symposiums at Stony Brook University's Charles B. Wang Center, including an April 5 event featuring former CIA director Michael Hayden, who will discuss last year's Osama bin Laden mission. Admission for the event is $25. Tickets will be available beginning Thursday at longislandspymuseum.org.
