Acoustic Kitty
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23
MENTIONS
8
EPISODES
8
PODCASTS
Search complete. 23 mentions across 8 episodes found for "Acoustic Kitty".
Oct 9, 2026
speaker_1UNKNOWN
Spies
DanHOST
Operation Acoustic Kitty was a plan by the CIA to surgically implant listening devices into cats for the purposes of listening to what targets? Operation Acoustic Kitty was a plan by the CIA to surgically implant listening devices into cats for the purposes of eavesdropping on what targets?
speaker_1UNKNOWN
Question three, business schools.
DanHOST
The Booth School of Business is named after philanthropist David Booth and can be found at what Midwestern university? The Booth School of Business is named after philanthropist David Booth and can be found at what Midwestern university?
Yung ChomskyHOST
The
Robert SkvarlaGUEST
most famous of which appears to have been Acoustic Kitty, the CIA's notorious cat experiment where they installed a listening device into a cat.
Liz FranczakHOST
I think I saw them in like 1994, Acoustic Kitty.
Liz FranczakHOST
Really? Yeah.
Liz FranczakHOST
A little affair.
16 MINS LATER
Robert SkvarlaGUEST
So a lot of this stuff descends from earlier studies from Skinner, the Brellins, and Herrnstein, because specifically in the late 60s, the CIA gets really crazy with this stuff.
Robert SkvarlaGUEST
And they begin training animals to do all sorts of things.
Robert SkvarlaGUEST
So there's Acoustic Kitty, which, if you believe the official story, ended in 67.
ChrisHOST
Spot the fake one.
ChrisHOST
Operation Vegetarian, Operation Mincemeat, Acoustic Kitty, and Operation Paul Bunyan.
ChrisHOST
Which of those is not a real thing?
NathanHOST
Well, I've definitely heard of Operation Mincemeat.
Part-Time JustinHOST
Okay, another story.
Part-Time JustinHOST
During the Cold War, the CIA actually developed a project called Acoustic Kitty.
Part-Time JustinHOST
The idea was to surgically turn a cat into a walking listening device.
Part-Time JustinHOST
They implanted a microphone in the cat and a transmitter so it could theoretically wander around and pick up conversations.
Part-Time JustinHOST
I
AnaHOST
think it was fake.
Part-Time JustinHOST
The CIA, they reportedly spent a million dollars on Acoustic Kitty.
Part-Time JustinHOST
And when it came down to the field test, they released the cat near two men they wanted to listen to.
OracleHOST
All right.
TeddyHOST
The first CIA project we're gonna talk about is the Acoustic Kitty.
OracleHOST
Oh.
AshtrayHOST
Ooh.
Lynsi SkibaHOST
Remember when you did a show on cat spies? Yeah,
Jeremiah SkibaHOST
it's called Operation Kitty.
Lynsi SkibaHOST
Operation Kitty.
Jeremiah SkibaHOST
That's a real thing that we spent money on as taxpayers.
Jeremiah SkibaHOST
A billion dollars.
Jeremiah SkibaHOST
Oh, wait, I have a drum roll.
Jeremiah SkibaHOST
Opa picked that one for sure.
Jeremiah SkibaHOST
Operation Kitty.
Jay MohrHOST
Easy.
JoePANELIST
The project was called Acoustic Kitty.
Gareth ReynoldsGUEST
We covered this one on the Dollar.
JoePANELIST
The fundamental problem with-
Jay MohrHOST
By the way, Jumbo's Clown Room, go see Acoustic Kitty.
Jay MohrHOST
She'll blow your fucking balls off.
Gareth ReynoldsGUEST
It's unbelievable.
Gareth ReynoldsGUEST
She's not up there for her health.
LeeHOST
Option number one.
LeeHOST
Option number two, known as Acoustic Kitty, the CIA spent over $20 million trying to turn house cats into spies.
speaker_3UNKNOWN
[laughs]
LeeHOST
And option number three, Pearl Harbor, the US government knew that Japan was going to attack Pearl Harbor, but they let it happen in order to have an excuse to enter World War II, despite the fact that it was not popular among American citizens.
LeeHOST
... let's call it six.
LeeHOST
A smattering.
LeeHOST
Um, number two, Acoustic Kitty, is not true.
LeeHOST
Hands up.