The CIA Tried to Use Cats to Gather Information About Their Targets

We included a fact about the CIA in our list of intriguing historical stories. Once upon a time, the CIA attempted to use cats to gather intelligence on the Soviets and other enemy entities. Here’s how it happened: Scientists implanted a microphone, transmitter, and antenna into a cat. Operators then trained the cat to move to strategic locations to eavesdrop on agents' conversations. To test this method, they took the cat to a park, but the operation ended in tragedy: the cat was hit by a car. In the end, the CIA realized this approach was impractical and abandoned the program.