Acoustic Kitty: When the CIA Tried to Turn a Cat into a Listening Device

Among the stranger documents released by the CIA is a short memorandum titled 'Views on Trained Cats' [1].

It concerns a 1960s research effort, widely reported as 'Acoustic Kitty', that examined whether a cat could be fitted with listening equipment and directed towards conversations of intelligence interest. The memo, much of it still redacted, confirms that the work took place and that the researchers had gone to considerable lengths.

Its conclusion, however, is that the programme would not be practical for operational use, while praising the scientific effort involved [1].

Accounts of how the project ended — including the often-repeated claim that the first test cat was struck by a taxi — come from later recollections, not from the released document itself, and should be treated with caution.