Project Acoustic Kitty: The CIA’s Bizarre Spy Cat Experiment

Silly Summer Season: The CIA’s Bonkers Spy Cat – Project Acoustic Kitty

In this delightfully absurd Silly Summer Season episode of Rainy Day Rabbit Holes, Jody takes us down the rabbit hole of one of the strangest Cold War experiments you’ve never heard of—Project Acoustic Kitty.

In the 1960s, the CIA actually spent millions of taxpayer dollars trying to turn a real, living cat into a stealthy spy. The plan? Surgically implant a microphone, radio transmitter, and antenna into an adorable feline operative to eavesdrop on Soviet conversations.

From top-secret surgery to a very short-lived field mission, this story has everything—government overconfidence, questionable ethics, and one very confused kitty. Shea and Jody can barely keep it together as they imagine what could possibly go wrong with strapping espionage gear to a cat.

Grab a cool drink, settle in, and enjoy one of the most ridiculous espionage stories in history. This is Cold War absurdity at its finest.

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