Operation Acoustic Kitty

          During the Cold War, Operation Acoustic Kitty was an experiment that was launched by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) aimed at using felines as spies. The initial goal was to infiltrate Kremlin and Soviet officials by implanting a microphone in the cat’s ear and interweaving wires throughout its fur. Though the project was first thought to be practical and advanced, the CIA soon learned that using animals as spies was ineffective and costly. 

          The project cost around $20 million, with expenses contributing mainly to spyware and cat maintenance. By relying on cats to eavesdrop, the CIA hoped to gain information from their Russian rivals. A feline presence seems unsuspecting, but it is also important to consider that animals have needs. The experiment ultimately did not work the way it was intended to because despite its government training, the initial cat the CIA tested on did not have the same operative mind as a human. Its natural curiosity and urge to wander around challenged the overall success of the cat’s task at hand. More importantly, ethical concerns were expressed by the public. 

          Using cats for the purposes of warfare is risky on its own, but it also puts the cat in a dangerous position. Animals are unable to consent to being used in this manner, so the CIA disregarded this level of autonomy for their own benefit. 

          The experimental cat’s first task was to spy on two men sitting on a park bench, and failed due to distraction and failure to follow the CIA’s instructions. A report published in 1967 titled Views on Trained Cats [redacted] for [redacted] Use concluded that, “The environmental and security factors in using this technique in a real foreign situation force us to conclude that, for our [redacted] purposes, it would not be practical.” 

          Though an interesting approach at spying on Russian officials, there were more issues than anticipated, including technical difficulties, unpredictable animal behavior, and ethical concerns that inevitably forced the project to shut down. Considering how Operation Acoustic Kitty concluded, it can be said that animals do not belong in government projects, and all experimental procedures should follow ethical guidelines going forward. 

 

Sources

 

Document Friday: Acoustic kitty. UNREDACTED. (2010, March 5). https://unredacted.com/2010/03/05/document-friday-acoustic-kitty/ 

 

Views on trained cats - the National Security Archive. (n.d.-a). https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB54/st27.pdf