The CIA Tried to Spy with Cats: Operation Acoustic Kitty
CIA Wanted To Spy on Soviets With Cats
CIA Wanted To Spy on Soviets With Cats
Spoiler: it went exactly as terribly as you’re imagining
In the 1960s, the CIA faced a serious problem: how to eavesdrop on Soviet conversations without being noticed. Their solution? Strap surveillance gear to cats. Real, live, street-wandering cats.
Thus began one of the most expensive and absurd failures in spy history: Operation Acoustic Kitty. It had the budget of a Bond film and the success rate of a cat obeying a command. Which is to say—none.
The high-tech cat-astrophe
The idea was straight out of science fiction. The CIA would surgically implant a microphone, antenna, and transmitter inside a cat. This feline cyborg would then casually slink up to Soviet officials, catch top-secret conversations, and stroll off into espionage glory.
Unfortunately, no one asked: Have you ever met a cat?
Training the untrainable
Engineers and behaviorists spent years trying to train the cats to follow commands and move on cue. They didn’t. One official later said the cats were “incorrigibly independent.”
You don’t say.
Still, the project trudged on. One test cat was released in a park near a Soviet compound to try a real mission.
It made it halfway across the street… before being hit by a taxi.
Years of research. Millions of dollars. One flattened agent.
What happened after
The project was deemed a failure and eventually shelved. Not before the CIA tried to spin it as “technically feasible,” which is bureaucrat-speak for “a total disaster, but let’s not get yelled at.”
In 2001, declassified documents confirmed what had long been whispered among spy historians: yes, the CIA really did try to use cats as surveillance tools. And no, they did not succeed.
Why we still talk about it
Operation Acoustic Kitty lives on as a cautionary tale of Cold War desperation, agency overreach, and the eternal truth that you cannot make cats do anything they don’t want to do.
Not even for national security.
Must read:
What Happened to Acoustic Kitty?
Sources
CIA Declassified Documents (via National Security Archive)
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB54/
Smithsonian Magazine
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/cias-cat-spy-project-didnt-go-well-180962420/
Spy Museum, “Operation Acoustic Kitty”
https://www.spymuseum.org/exhibition-experiences/about-the-collection/spy-technology/operation-acoustic-kitty/
