OPERATION ACOUSTIC KITTY: WHEN THE CIA WASTED $20M DURING THE COLD WAR
Cats are amazing animals, capable of acrobatic feats, cunning prowess, and athletic maneuvers. They’re great listeners, stealthy, and in many ways, should make great tools for espionage. During the Cold War, the CIA thought so too, which would inspire Operation Acoustic Kitty to become a reality. Unfortunately, our feline friends don’t really have nine lives, and what seemed like the purffect plan would end up becoming a tragic, incredible amount of government waste.
What Happened to Acoustic Kitty?
Acoustic Kitty cost taxpayers around $20 million and ended up being a failed endeavor by the CIA. While it can be looked at as a learning experience, here’s how the agency killed a cat trying to create an unconventional spy.
Eavesdropping Felines
During the Cold War, keeping tabs on people connected or perceived to be connected to the Soviet Union were targeted by the U.S. for spying.
Information was valuable during the conflict, and experiments were greenlit in the pursuit of gaining the upper hand on both sides.
Acoustic Kitty was an attempt to implant a cat with a microphone inside its ear, a radio transmitter at the base of its skull, and an antenna in its fur.
By doing so, the CIA believed that the feline could be trained to go within earshot of those working for the Kremlin without raising suspicion and capture valuable intel.
The Directorate of Science & Technology’s $20 Million Tragedy
In some ways, it’s not as crazy as it now seems. Humans have been domesticating animals for quite some time, including cats, for up to 12,000 years.
Today, we continue to use animals ranging from dolphins to dogs in the military, so, to the credit of the DS&T’s very expensive mistake, at least there’s that.
However, the reality of Operation Acoustic Kitty would be far bleaker as the CIA never got the program running like it should.
To make matters worse, when they did attempt the technique in the field, the failure almost couldn’t have gone worse.
How Operation Acoustic Kitty Failed
When it was time to execute the mission, things didn’t take long to go wrong for everyone involved.
Even after all of the money and effort poured in, using animals can have its setbacks, particularly since cats don’t like training.
The CIA was going to release modified cyborg cats near embassies and other places where chatter from the Soviets might be intercepted.
When they released the cat, instead of fulfilling its mission to sit nearby and listen in, it was unfortunately hit by a vehicle and killed.
Yes, the U.S. paid around $20 million (worth much more back then) for the animal to be killed early on in the mission.
There were other attempts to train cats for the job, but the program would soon realize that cats have no interest in being the weirdest version of James Bond you can think of.
Although the project was a failure, it helped inspire other initiatives using animals, which provided better results, including cyborg spy beetles between 2006 and 2009.
Operation Acoustic Kitty doesn’t have a great ending, but it is a reminder of the lengths both sides were willing to go through during the Cold War.
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