6 ms·

The CIA's Cold War plan to use stray cats as spies

65 points by dxs 3y ago

486sx33 3y ago
“ Some of the cats reacted badly to the implants, and were constantly scratching and biting at them.”
aaron695 3y ago
[dead]
kromem 3y ago
"Mistoffelees, Mister Mistoffelees"
abhgh 3y ago
This reminded me of "Starter Villain"! [1]. Don't want to give away the plot, but I'll say its a fun read. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Starter-Villain-John-Scalzi/dp/0765389223 https://www.amazon.com/Starter-Villain-John-Scalzi/dp/076538...
anon115 3y ago
bug planted bed bugs
lostlogin 3y ago
The US military seems to enjoy tormenting animals. Here is the bat bomb. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb
- rl3 3y ago
  Honorable mention to the explosive rat, as well as Project Pigeon: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosive_rat https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosive_rat https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon
- e40 3y ago
  A coworker’s father worked on this project, he says. Been telling the story at parties for 4 decades.
- Sakos 3y ago
  Why are you singling out the US? The Soviets used dogs as anti-tank bombs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tank_dog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tank_dog I think using animals for warfare is something we've done as a species for a long time. The US isn't unique in this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_animal#As_living_bombs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_animal#As_living_bomb...
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
tenlp 3y ago
Sounds like the anti-tank dogs used by the Soviet Union during WW2
tempodox 3y ago
By now we've gone full miniaturization and use cockroaches instead. https://www.ign.com/articles/scientists-create-remote-controlled-cyborg-cockroaches https://www.ign.com/articles/scientists-create-remote-contro...
Frummy 3y ago
Biomechanics a la H R Giger
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
dsign 3y ago
That was awful. Thanks God we are months away from truly controllable spy-birds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXg-qoRN0co https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXg-qoRN0co . I wonder if the CIA and the other three-letter agencies are already filing orders for them.
A4ET8a8uTh0 3y ago
I honestly can't decide if it is better, because we are at least not harming animals as much, or worse, because it is a solved problem between cells and multiple others ( as posters noted ) types of surveillance.
- keybored 3y ago
  I think of these things in terms of how much they help the CIA. Inversely correlated.
jankovicsandras 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Darn_Cat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Darn_Cat!
MichaelMoser123 3y ago
they had a propaganda campaign in the soviet union - in the early 1950ies : the colorado potato beetle was said to have been spread by the evil CIA in order to destroy the glorious soviet potatoes... now I am starting to wonder about that one (always regarded this as invention and co-production of the Stasi/MGB/KGB)
- paganel 3y ago
  I could see that happening, in the mid-1990s me, my brother and my grandma were still spending a day or two every autumn trying to get rid of those damn Colorado bugs, this was all happening in my grandma's potato field in an Eastern-European country. No pesticides/insecticides or anything of the sorts, just going from potato plant to potato plant, bucket in one hand, and "hitting" those damn things with a snap of your fingers so that they'd land directly in said bucket. Surprisingly I now miss those simpler times, so I guess I should give my thanks to the CIA for making it happen.
  - MichaelMoser123 3y ago
    excuse my ignorance, i am not much into agriculture: they didn't get you any pesticides until the mid nineties? How comes?
    - paganel 3y ago
      We were very self-sufficient, autarchic, you could say, the only actual money that we were daily exchanging was for bread and stuff that was difficult to grow locally (this was a mountain village), such as tomatoes or melons, but those only during tomatoes/melons season and they were more like a "delicacy". Some money spent on clothes here and there, plus the monthly electricity bill and my grandpa's newspaper subscription. Ah, and my grandma was also selling home-made tuica [1] on the side, so that was some other money that was getting exchanged, but not daily. When my grandparents needed help during harvesting season they were also "hiring" some local people, but in many of those cases there wasn't actual money involved, people were keeping tabs on "I've worked this number of days for you to help you out with the harvesting which means you owe me this number of days in return to help me out with my harvesting in return", or there was tuica bartering involved, see the above point. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%9Auic%C4%83 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%9Auic%C4%83
unnamed76ri 3y ago
Reminds me of the military dolphins. Which for decades I thought were just made up for the game Red Alert 2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_marine_mammal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_marine_mammal
- keybored 3y ago
  Using sea doggos would make sense. Man’s best blegh friend.
karim79 3y ago
> They opened the side door, let the cat out onto the sidewalk, and watched with eager anticipation as the feline secret agent sauntered away towards her target—a pair of Russians sitting on a park bench. > Less then a minute later, as kitty tried to cross the busy street, she was run over by a Russian taxicab, and the operation came to an abrupt end. I mean, all that effort and cruelty, and they did not even have the sense to wait a bit until there were fewer cars around. This story reminds me of this video on YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkuo7-sefEQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkuo7-sefEQ

65 points by dxs 3y ago

486sx33 3y ago

“ Some of the cats reacted badly to the implants, and were constantly scratching and biting at them.”

aaron695 3y ago

[dead]

kromem 3y ago

"Mistoffelees, Mister Mistoffelees"

abhgh 3y ago

This reminded me of "Starter Villain"! [1]. Don't want to give away the plot, but I'll say its a fun read. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Starter-Villain-John-Scalzi/dp/0765389223 https://www.amazon.com/Starter-Villain-John-Scalzi/dp/076538...

anon115 3y ago

bug planted bed bugs

lostlogin 3y ago

The US military seems to enjoy tormenting animals. Here is the bat bomb. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb

rl3 3y ago
Honorable mention to the explosive rat, as well as Project Pigeon: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosive_rat https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosive_rat https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon
e40 3y ago
A coworker’s father worked on this project, he says. Been telling the story at parties for 4 decades.
Sakos 3y ago
Why are you singling out the US? The Soviets used dogs as anti-tank bombs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tank_dog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tank_dog I think using animals for warfare is something we've done as a species for a long time. The US isn't unique in this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_animal#As_living_bombs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_animal#As_living_bomb...
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

tenlp 3y ago

Sounds like the anti-tank dogs used by the Soviet Union during WW2

tempodox 3y ago

By now we've gone full miniaturization and use cockroaches instead. https://www.ign.com/articles/scientists-create-remote-controlled-cyborg-cockroaches https://www.ign.com/articles/scientists-create-remote-contro...

Frummy 3y ago

Biomechanics a la H R Giger

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

dsign 3y ago

That was awful. Thanks God we are months away from truly controllable spy-birds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXg-qoRN0co https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXg-qoRN0co . I wonder if the CIA and the other three-letter agencies are already filing orders for them.

A4ET8a8uTh0 3y ago

I honestly can't decide if it is better, because we are at least not harming animals as much, or worse, because it is a solved problem between cells and multiple others ( as posters noted ) types of surveillance.

keybored 3y ago
I think of these things in terms of how much they help the CIA. Inversely correlated.

jankovicsandras 3y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Darn_Cat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Darn_Cat!

MichaelMoser123 3y ago

they had a propaganda campaign in the soviet union - in the early 1950ies : the colorado potato beetle was said to have been spread by the evil CIA in order to destroy the glorious soviet potatoes... now I am starting to wonder about that one (always regarded this as invention and co-production of the Stasi/MGB/KGB)

paganel 3y ago
I could see that happening, in the mid-1990s me, my brother and my grandma were still spending a day or two every autumn trying to get rid of those damn Colorado bugs, this was all happening in my grandma's potato field in an Eastern-European country. No pesticides/insecticides or anything of the sorts, just going from potato plant to potato plant, bucket in one hand, and "hitting" those damn things with a snap of your fingers so that they'd land directly in said bucket. Surprisingly I now miss those simpler times, so I guess I should give my thanks to the CIA for making it happen.
- MichaelMoser123 3y ago
  excuse my ignorance, i am not much into agriculture: they didn't get you any pesticides until the mid nineties? How comes?
  - paganel 3y ago
    We were very self-sufficient, autarchic, you could say, the only actual money that we were daily exchanging was for bread and stuff that was difficult to grow locally (this was a mountain village), such as tomatoes or melons, but those only during tomatoes/melons season and they were more like a "delicacy". Some money spent on clothes here and there, plus the monthly electricity bill and my grandpa's newspaper subscription. Ah, and my grandma was also selling home-made tuica [1] on the side, so that was some other money that was getting exchanged, but not daily. When my grandparents needed help during harvesting season they were also "hiring" some local people, but in many of those cases there wasn't actual money involved, people were keeping tabs on "I've worked this number of days for you to help you out with the harvesting which means you owe me this number of days in return to help me out with my harvesting in return", or there was tuica bartering involved, see the above point. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%9Auic%C4%83 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%9Auic%C4%83

unnamed76ri 3y ago

Reminds me of the military dolphins. Which for decades I thought were just made up for the game Red Alert 2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_marine_mammal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_marine_mammal

keybored 3y ago
Using sea doggos would make sense. Man’s best blegh friend.

karim79 3y ago

> They opened the side door, let the cat out onto the sidewalk, and watched with eager anticipation as the feline secret agent sauntered away towards her target—a pair of Russians sitting on a park bench. > Less then a minute later, as kitty tried to cross the busy street, she was run over by a Russian taxicab, and the operation came to an abrupt end. I mean, all that effort and cruelty, and they did not even have the sense to wait a bit until there were fewer cars around. This story reminds me of this video on YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkuo7-sefEQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkuo7-sefEQ