The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., was closed Saturday afternoon after security guards used pepper spray to repel more than 100 demonstrators who were told they could not enter the building while carrying signs. The protesters from the “Stop the Machine” occupation targeted the museum because of an exhibit on drones. Immediately after the confrontation, The American Spectator, a conservative publication, posted an article by assistant editor Patrick Howley, in which he revealed he had consciously infiltrated the group of protesters in order to discredit their movement. Howley wrote the protesters lacked the nerve to confront authority and admitted to running through the lobby of the museum, provoking guards to use their pepper spray. In the article, Howley calls the museum the scene of his crime and admits he was the only person to make it fully inside, despite orders from security guards.
