National Security Agency logo is shown on a computer screen at NSA. Thomson Reuters The National Security Agency is perhaps the most secretive of the 17 intelligence agencies that make up the sophisticated US spy network.

Created in secret in 1952, the NSA was once jokingly referred to as "No Such Agency" or "Never Say Anything." But now, especially after a flood of top secret documents were leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden, NSA is a household name.

The agency, previously shy about official statements and transparency, now has websites dedicated to its own message surrounding the leaks. And the official in charge of its elite hacker unit — which it denied even existed before Snowden — gave a public talk in February.

Tech Insider was recently in Washington to cover a DARPA event at the Pentagon, so we decided to make a slight detour out to the National Cryptologic Museum, a public facility that's just a stone's throw away from NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, Md.

Here's what's inside.