National Vigilance Park

The United States National Vigilance Park (NVP) is a memorial to the military servicemen who participated in aerial reconnaissance during the Cold War. Dedicated on 1997-09-02, NVP is located just one block from the National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. It is 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 can be scheduled for NVP by contacting the National Cryptologic Museum (NCM), which is just one block west of the park.

NCM and NVP are open to the public and admission is free. Donations to the NCM Foundation are accepted. Photographing the planes and the memorial plaques, decor, and grounds is allowed; however, pictures of the adjacent NSA buildings are not permitted due to security concerns.

The memorial
Three reconnaissance aircraft are on display at the memorial, which are ringed by a semicircle of 18 trees representing the 18 aerial cryptologic missions lost during the program. A U.S. Army Seminole RU-8D Reconnaissance Plane represents the Army Airborne Signals Intelligence contribution in the Vietnam War. A Hercules C-130 transport, modified to look like a reconnaissance-configuration C-130A, memorializes a U.S. Air Force aircraft shot down over Soviet Armenia during the Cold War. Finally, the park contains a U.S. Navy Skywarrior EA-3B, commemorating a mission in the Mediterranean on January 25, 1987 in which all seven crew members died.