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It looks much like any modern gym on the inside. Except there are no cellphones, no Kindles or tablets, virtually no electronics of any kind, and only muted conversation among the smattering of patrons engaged in late-morning workouts.⁠ ⁠ They were exercising at the Central Intelligence Agency’s ultramodern “field house,” a stone’s throw from the spy agency’s hulking headquarters buildings on its fortified Northern Virginia campus in Langley, Va.⁠ ⁠ The 43,000-square-foot facility opened March 14, ending a more than two-decade quest to replace a pair of cramped and moldering basement gyms and finally bring the agency up to par with the athletic facilities found at military bases and on Capitol Hill. The gym symbolizes a recognition by its leaders, they said, that the agency needs to focus more on its people after over two decades of playing front-line roles in conflict zones around the world.⁠ ⁠ Named Langley Field House, the gym is intended to help the spy agency attract and retain workers as it competes with the private sector for technological expertise, those involved in its design and construction said. It sports the latest in accessibility features to accommodate the CIA’s disabled employees, including military personnel who retired and joined the CIA after being wounded in U.S. counterterrorism wars.⁠ ⁠ “The pressures and strains faced by our officers and their families are unrelenting—with two decades shaped by counterterrorism threats followed by two years of COVID,” CIA Director William Burns wrote in response to questions about the new gym. “As an organization, we have learned that in order to maintain a high-performing, resilient organization, we need to take care of our officers.”⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Central Intelligence Agency