Wikileaks recently tweeted out a link to a declassified CIA document, first released in 2001. A microphone and transmitter was implanted into a feline in an attempt to develop new ways to collect information from the Soviets.
The project was called “Acoustic Kitty” and ran from 1960-1967.
Wikipedia (the other wiki) explains: “Acoustic Kitty was a CIA project launched by the Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science & Technology, which in the 1960s intended to use cats to spy on the Kremlin and Soviet embassies. In an hour-long procedure a veterinary surgeon implanted a microphone in the cat’s ear canal, a small radio transmitter at the base of its skull and a thin wire into its fur. This would allow the cat to innocuously record and transmit sound from its surroundings. Due to problems with distraction, the cat’s sense of hunger had to be addressed in another operation.
The project was cancelled in 1967. A closing memorandum said that the CIA researchers believed that they could train cats to move short distances, but that “the environmental and security factors in using this technique in a real foreign situation force us to conclude that for our (intelligence) purposes, it would not be practical. The project was disclosed in 2001, when some CIA documents were declassified”
In a 2001 article in The Telegraph, Victor Marchetti, a former CIA officer explained: “They slit the cat open, put batteries in him, wired him up. The tail was used as an antenna… They found he would walk off the job when he got hungry, so they put another wire in to override that.”
Of course, after a long hot day of spying, you can also enjoy a cold bottle of “Acoustic Kitty” beer from the South Street Brewery, Charlottesville, VA:
