Secrets of Cold War spycraft revealed at National Museum of Nuclear Science and History’s first-ever Spyglass Festival

If you like your Cold War history shaken, not stirred, check out the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History’s 2026 Spyglass Festival. The three-day event, which begins Thursday, Jan. 15, will feature spy games, secret-agent movie nights and more.

“We were thrilled to get a grant from the Visit Albuquerque tourism grant program to launch an event that will bring people to Albuquerque,” Bernadette C. Robin, the museum’s director of communication, said. “We know, from the museum itself, that there’s great interest in espionage and spies.”

The festival kicks off Thursday evening with a special presentation by retired CIA Senior Operations Officer David Kitchen on the hidden history of the Manhattan Project — the top-secret government program to develop the first atomic weapons during World War II. Kitchen’s presentation is part of the museum’s Science on Tap series, and admission includes one free beverage from Bombs Away Brewery.

“A lot of people know the Manhattan Project from the science and engineering aspect. Some probably know about the espionage, but I spent 33 years as an operations officer in the CIA … so I want to share my viewpoint on what happened in the Manhattan Project from an intelligence standpoint,” Kitchen said. “What I want to do is take a look at what made them good spies. What were they motivated by? What kind of access did they have? What kind of tradecraft did they use?”

According to Kitchen, the three elements that make a good spy are motivation, suitability and access. But one of the main requirements of the job is the ability to remain undetected.

“The James Bond/Jason Bourne image makes for great movies, but in 33 years, I never met anybody (in the CIA) who would fit those criteria,” Kitchen said. “In fact, we used to teach that James Bond was a horrible spy, because everyone knew who he was.”

In contrast to the Hollywood image, most real-life intelligence assets aspire to become a “gray man,” someone whose appearance and actions are utterly unremarkable.

“It’s the person at a cocktail party who blends into the shadows and talks to few people. At the end of the party, if people were asked, ‘Who do you remember?,’ they never mention his name,” Kitchen said. “A lot of the Manhattan Project assets were like that. They were low-key, unassuming people, who, when what they did was revealed, it came as a shock to everyone who knew them.”

On the second evening of the festival, there will be a free screening of the 2015 historical thriller, “Bridge of Spies,” directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks. Francis Gary Powers Jr., the son of the real-life U-2 pilot portrayed in “Bridge of Spies,” will introduce the film. Afterwards, Powers will sign copies of “Spy Pilot,” a book he co-authored about his father’s extraordinary life.

“He spent 25 years researching his father’s life to correct the public record,” Robin said.

On Saturday, the museum will offer free admission and a full day of family-friendly, espionage-themed programming, including an invisible ink demonstration.

“We’ll have artifacts that are usually kept in storage for different reasons, and we’ll have hands-on activities, vendors from New Mexico True (the state’s tourism campaign) and food trucks,” Robin said. “Then, we’ll close that evening with an event we’ve done before called Nuclear After Dark. This time, there will be an espionage game. And we’ll be showing a short documentary by Larry Sheffield (and Trent DiGiulio), called ‘Alamogordo, Center of the World, Trinity 1945.’”

Sheffield and DiGiulio’s award-winning documentary explores the history of the Manhattan Project and the Trinity testing site.

“Given New Mexico’s history with the Atomic Age, we are in the perfect place, so we hope people come visit us,” Robin said.

Logan Royce Beitmen is an arts writer for the Albuquerque Journal. He covers music, visual arts, books and more. You can reach him at lbeitmen@abqjournal.com.