observatory newspaper; During the Cold War, the American intelligence agency “CIA” resorted to many methods in order to collect information about the Soviet Union, and tried all methods of espionage; Such as wiretapping and surveillance devices, or the recruitment of agents and spies, so that it once mixed between the two and integrated the listening and surveillance devices inside the body of the spy.
British Telegraph In November 2001, US intelligence believed that the Soviets would never suspect that the cat was an American spy, so the cat, equipped with recording or audio transmitters, could approach targets without hindrance and eavesdrop on them.
The newspaper quoted the former special assistant to the director of “CIA” Victor Marchetti as saying that the project was a failure, and heinous at the time, explaining that “they cut the cat, put the batteries and wires inside it, they committed atrocity.”
According to Marchetti, the team behind the project had to first train the cat to follow commands, which is very difficult; As the cat was bored quickly and did not obey commands easily, as it was leaving its task during training either to sleep or to eat whenever it felt the need to do so.
He revealed that after months of strenuous training, the US intelligence agents faced a second problem, which is the way to hide the spy devices so as not to be discovered. The solution was to implant them inside the spy cat’s body with surgery, and this was a new problem.
He pointed out that the spy devices at that time were not as small as they are at the present time or used microchips, pointing out that the US intelligence agency had to discover how to provide the cat with a microphone, antenna, transmitter and battery that supplies power to these devices, and it should not have been. These devices inside the cat’s body affect any of its natural movements, lest the spy cat draw attention to it.
Marchetti stressed that, in the end, the CIA built a 2-cm transmitter and placed it under the skin and under the cat’s skull, and finding a place for the microphone that could clearly pick up the sound was difficult at first.
“Maraketi” added that the ear canal was chosen to place the microphone, noting that the antenna was made of a soft wire on the spine all the way to the tail.
He explained that what caused the most problems were the batteries; Because the cat’s size limited it to using only the smallest batteries and restricted the amount of time the cat could record.
He revealed that after 5 years of training, preparing, making devices, experimenting and cultivating them inside the cat, and making sure that they work well, the cost of the whole process reached about 20 million dollars, but the worst was yet to come.
He said that US intelligence agents then set out for a public park in a pickup truck, opened the door and gave the spy cat his first task, to infiltrate two men sitting on a nearby bench and eavesdrop on their conversation.
Marchetti recounted that what happened was unimaginable, saying: “They pulled her out of the truck, and immediately a taxi came and ran over her, and here they are sitting in the truck looking at 5 years of effort and 20 million dead costs!”