The CIA Spent $20 Million on a Spy Cat. It Got Hit by a Taxi.

In the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, the CIA had a problem: they needed to eavesdrop on Soviet diplomats in public spaces without being detected. Microphones were too obvious. Agents were too risky. They needed something that could walk right up to a target without raising suspicion.

They chose a cat.

Project Acoustic Kitty

Over five years, CIA scientists developed one of the most unusual intelligence operations in American history. They surgically implanted a microphone in a cat''s ear canal, a radio transmitter at the base of its skull, and threaded a thin antenna wire through its fur along its tail.

The total cost: approximately $20 million in 1960s dollars.

The cat was trained (as much as any cat can be trained) to sit near targets in public spaces while the embedded microphone transmitted their conversations to a nearby CIA listening van.

The First Mission

For the inaugural deployment, the CIA parked a surveillance van near the Soviet embassy compound in Washington, D.C. Two Soviet officials were sitting on a park bench. The cat was released.

It walked into the street and was immediately hit by a taxi.

The Conclusion

The CIA''s internal memo on the project''s termination noted diplomatically that "environmental and security factors" made the technique impractical for field operations. The project was declassified in 2001.

Twenty million dollars. Five years of surgery and training. Killed by a taxi on day one. The CIA filed it under "lessons learned."