Displays honoring women and people of color who served the National Security Agency were covered up by staff at a national museum over the weekend amid workers’ rush to comply with President Donald Trump’s dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, an NSA representative told NPR.
The National Cryptologic Museum in Fort Meade, Maryland, acknowledged the coverings in a statement Saturday after a photo of the papered displays began circulating on social media. The museum called what happened “a mistake” and said that the issue had been rectified.
“We are dedicated to presenting the public with historically accurate exhibits and we have corrected a mistake that covered an exhibit. We look forward to visitors exploring the museum and its rich history,” the museum said.
NSA Executive Director Sheila Thomas told NPR that the museum workers erroneously covered the displays amid a rush to comply with Trump’s recent order to terminate DEI policies in the federal government.
NSA leadership didn’t provide enough guidance to the museum’s staff on how to comply with Trump’s order, creating confusion, she said.
“They were on rapid fire to move very quickly and be responsive,” said Thomas. “We are being as responsive as we possibly can. Some of these [executive orders] have short deadlines.”
An NSA representative referred HuffPost to the NPR story when contacted for comment. A spokesperson for the museum did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment Wednesday.
The displays covered appear to be part of the museum’s Hall of Honor, which “pays tribute to Americans and others who have given especially distinguished service to the United States in cryptology and its related fields,” according to the museum’s website.
National security attorney Mark S. Zaid, whose work specializes in representing federal employees, employees, intelligence and military officers, said in a post on social media that one of the areas covered showcased men and people of color. The other showed women, including a tribute to cryptologist Elizabeth Friedman.
Friedman, who was inducted into the Hall of Honor in 1999, has been dubbed “America’s first female cryptanalyst” and has a NSA building named after her and her cryptologist husband.
“Fine by me to debate #DEI,” Zaid posted on X Saturday along with a photo of the covered displays. “It is not fine by me to disgrace & insult those who serve our nation, simply because they might be minorities or different gender.”
Former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden and former CIA Chief of Staff Larry Pfeiffer also blamed Trump’s anti-diversity executive order for the move, which Pfeiffer called “disgraceful.”
“Hey — the whole diversity thing we can debate and discuss until the cows come home. But cover up those who we hold up as among our greatest in the profession. That’s disgraceful.” Pfeiffer said in a social media post.
Hayden, in his his own post slamming the move, noted that the men of color covered included Washington Wong and Ralph Adams Jr.
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Wong was inducted into the NSA/CSS Cryptologic Hall of Honor in 2013 and has a facility in Hawaii named after him. He was recognized by the NSA for his generous mentorship and was branded “a national treasure” by other Chinese linguists.
Ralph W. Adams Jr. was the NSA’s first African American Executive Director and was inducted into the NSA Cryptologic Hall of Honor in 2015. He was known as a superb Vietnamese language analyst and a great mentor of linguists who advocated for diversity in the workplace and fostered awareness of diversity issues, the NSA said.