The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

National Vigilance Park (NVP) was a memorial to the military servicemen who participated in aerial reconnaissance during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. Dedicated on September 2, 1997, NVP was located just one block from the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

(NSA) headquarters at

Fort George G. Meade Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States military bands#Army Field Band, United States Army Field Band, and the head ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. It was previously open 24 hours a day for viewing. Military events connected with the Intelligence Community and/or personnel stationed at Ft. Meade or working at NSA were formerly scheduled through the

National Cryptologic Museum The National Cryptologic Museum (NCM) is an American museum of cryptologic history that is affiliated with the National Security Agency (NSA). The first public museum in the U.S. Intelligence Community, NCM is located in the former Colony Sev ...

(NCM), which is just one block west of the former park. When NVP was open to the public, admission was free. Donations to the NCM Foundation are still accepted for potential reopening of the park. Photographing the planes and the memorial plaques, decor, and grounds was allowed when they were on site; however, pictures of the adjacent NSA buildings were not permitted due to security concerns.

The memorial

Three reconnaissance aircraft were on display at the memorial, which were ringed by a semicircle of 18 trees representing the 18 aerial cryptologic missions lost during the program. A

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

Seminole RU-8D

Reconnaissance Plane In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmishers, ...

represented the Army Airborne

Signals Intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ( ...

contribution in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. A Hercules C-130 transport, tail number 60528, modified to look like a reconnaissance-configuration C-130A, memorialized a

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

aircraft shot down over Soviet

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

during the

. Finally, the park contained a

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

Skywarrior

EA-3B The Douglas A-3 Skywarrior is a jet-powered strategic bomber that was developed and produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was designed by Douglas on behalf of the United States Navy, which sought a carrier-capable strategic bomber. Durin ...

, commemorating a mission in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

on January 25, 1987 in which all seven crew members died.

Closure

National Vigilance Park was closed in February 2017, and its aircraft and memorials removed to allow for the construction of a new NSA visitor checkpoint. In 2018, Google Maps satellite imagery depicted the in-progress removal of the aircraft. Also in 2018, the official NSA website for NVP reported the park would reopen at an undetermined time in the future next to the NCM.

Notes

* John R. Schindler,
A Dangerous Business: The U.S. Navy and National Reconnaissance During the Cold War
, 1997.

References

External links

National Vigilance Park home page

The National Cryptologic Museum Foundation

A set of photos of the museum
by Austin Mills
A set of photos of NCM and NVP
by Mike Newton {{National Security Agency Cryptography organizations National Security Agency Aerial reconnaissance

The memorial

Closure

See also

Notes

References

External links