Spy Bases: 9 Secretive HQs of the World's Intelligence Agencies

Architecture is a language, one used by institutions to say something about themselves.

The same basic principle is true for the world's spy agencies. All show their secrecy in their buildings, while some may appear starkly utilitarian, and some may even be frightening and alienating. But they also have their quirks and differences, whether it be an isolated complex hidden by trees, in a location that's never been officially disclosed, or a prominent complex built by superstar architects and put on prominent display in the middle of a capital city.

From Virginia to Berlin to Moscow, here are nine of them.

Above:

United States: Central Intelligence Agency

If John Brennan becomes the next CIA director ' a likely event ' he'll be working from inside a complex that could blend into a business park anywhere in America. But this park contains the headquarters of America's foreign intelligence agency.

Protected from prying eyes by a wooded belt in suburban Langley, Virginia, just northwest of Washington, D.C., the complex is actually two sets of buildings connected to a central core, with each set built at different times. The first half of the building and designed by New York architecture firm Harrison and Abramovitz ' who had a role in designing the United Nations headquarters ' dates back to 1963. It's a sign of its times, and built from sterile pre-fabricated concrete. Though the Headquarters Auditorium (seen at top), also known as "The Bubble" took its cue from post-war futurism. But by the 1980s, the agency was running out of space. Today, the complex is much larger, with an added west wing of two glass office towers, designed by Detroit architects Smith, Hinchman & Grylls in the 1980s.

The CIA also has a penchant for art and assorted knick-knacks. The agency has a chunk of the Berlin Wall on display, and an A-12 Oxcar spy plane. There's a museum inside the building with all sorts of weird memorabilia inside, from a robotic fish to a Cold War-era mini-submarine (seen above). Outside the cafeteria on the grounds of the headquarters' new wing is the copper sculpture Kryptos, containing 869 encrypted characters on four plates. The final plate, with its 97 characters, is still unbroken. The cafeteria is remarkably pleasant and airy for a government building, actually, with enormous windows and green views. (The food, however, is not quite as pleasing.)

Photos: Central Intelligence Agency