"I Spy With My Little Eye": Central Intelligence Agency opens its account on Instagram

The Central Intelligence Agency opened its own Instagram account on Thursday with a picture of a desk of mysteries teased by the children's game prompt "I spy with my little eye."

Image Instagrammed by CIA

Washington: After making its presence on social media networking sites Facebook and Twitter, US-based civilian foreign intelligence service Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) made its official debut on Instagram. The Central Intelligence Agency opened its own Instagram account on Thursday in a unique manner. It posted a pic of a desk of mysteries teased by the children's game prompt "I spy with my little eye." The photo tempts with intrigues and adventure: a wig suggesting disguises, maps of China and the Gulf, foreign banknotes, a burn bag for getting rid of secret documents, a notebook with Arabic, and other items -- mostly real operation souvenirs of CIA officers. Next to a wall is a photo with the words: "I want to travel the world." The Instagram posting was an expansion of the premier US spy agency's effort to recruit a younger generation of officers, agents and analysts, having already been on Twitter and Facebook for years. The Director of CIA, Gina Haspel, while addressing a crowd at Auburn University in Alabama, confirmed that the CIA would soon have a presence on Instagram, The Verge reported on Monday. With nearly a million followers on Facebook and 2.58 million followers on Twitter, the CIA keeps connected with the youth through sharing memes and updates about the organisation and its work. Now Instagram would be the intelligence agency's latest foray into social media. "Our team worked with the CIA, as they do with many partners, to provide best practices and guidance when it comes to launching an Instagram account," the report quoted an Instagram spokesperson as saying. As of now, it remains unclear exactly by when would CIA's official Instagram account be launched. However, it is not new for federal agencies maintaining official accounts on social networking platforms. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) already have official Instagram accounts.