© JASON REED/Reuters/Corbis
The Internet has been going nuts over the news that a dog was among the elite commandos who raided Osama bin Ladenâs compound and killed him. In response, Slate put together a slideshow of photoillustrations depicting the "Cats of War." Cats being used as agents of war by the government is no joke, though. Around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Central Intelligence Agency was doing anything and everything to get an edge on the Soviets.
Including turning to cats as agents of espionage.
The CIA figured the Soviets would never suspect a cat to be a U.S. spy, so the animal, implanted with audio recording or transmitting devices, could get close to foreign operatives unhindered and eavesdrop on them.
Itâs an idea that almost forces the eyes to roll. Even people inside the agency didnât think very highly of the plan. Victor Marchetti, a former special assistant to the agencyâs director, told The Telegraph that the project was a failure, and a gruesome one at that. âThey slit the cat open, put batteries in him, wired him up,â Marchetti said. âThey made a monstrosity.â
If only it were as easy as Marchetti makes it seem.
âProject Acoustic Kitty,â as it was called within the agency, actually took some five years to complete. No one seems to remember who first suggested spy cats, but once the Acoustic Kitty idea was fleshed out, it became a joint project between the CIAâs Office of Technical Services and Office of Research and Development.
The departmentsâ engineers and technicians had their work cut out for them. For the cats to be effective spies, the implants couldnât affect any of their natural movements, lest the spies draw attention to themselves, or cause any irritation that would prompt the cats to try to dislodge the equipment by rubbing, clawing or licking it. All the components â a power source, a transmitter, a microphone and an antenna â would also need to withstand the catsâ internal temperature, humidity and chemistry.
Working with outside audio equipment contractors, the CIA built a 3/4-inch-long transmitter to embed at the base of the catâs skull. Finding a place for the microphone was difficult at first, but the ear canal turned out to be prime, and seemingly obvious, real estate. The antenna was made from fine wire and woven, all the way to the tail, through the catâs long fur to conceal it. The batteries also gave the techies a little trouble, since the catsâ size limited them to using only the smallest batteries and restricted the amount of time the cat would be able to record.
Tests of the equipmentâs capabilities and performance were run first on dummies and then on live animals. During these tests, the cats were also monitored for their reactions to the equipment, to ensure their comfort and make sure their maneuverability and behavior were normal. After the agency weighed potential fallout from negative publicity against the value of successful feline spies, they proceeded to wire up their first fully functional agent.
After the cat woke up from the anesthesia, she was put into a recovery room to recoup and undergo further testing. As she was run through several operational scenarios, her behavior became inconsistent. Her handlers began to worry they had made a huge mistake.
The successful experimental animals had, up to this point, been able to move short distances and target specific locations in a familiar environment. Outside the lab, there was just no herding the cat. Sheâd wander off when she got bored, distracted or hungry. The catâs hunger issues were addressed with another operation. The additional surgical and training expenses are estimated to have brought the total cost up to $20 million, but Acoustic Kitty was finally ready to venture into the real world. (The CIA documents on the project are still partially redacted, so we donât know if the first cat in the field was the female cat mentioned before or a different one.)
For the first field test, a CIA reconnaissance van was across the street from a park, where the marks were sitting on a bench. The cat hopped out of the van, started across the road, and was promptly hit and killed by a taxi.
After the catâs death, a CIA operative returned to the accident site and collected the spyâs remains. They didn't want the Soviets to get their hands on the audio equipment.
Project Acoustic Kitty was completely abandoned in 1967. Deploying agents that the CIA had little to no control over was deemed a phenomenally bad idea. The project was declared an utter failure.
Documents relating to Acoustic Kitty were released in 2001 following a Freedom of Information Act request by the National Security Archives, but remain partially censored. One report issued after the project was closed does offer a declassified pat on the back to the team that worked on the project. They were called âmodels for scientific pioneersâ for proving that âcats can indeed be trained to move short distances.â
A true success for everyone but the cat.
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