Spycraft - Melton [115]
Working with their prime audio equipment contractor, the techs produced a three-quarter-inch transmitter for embedding at the base of the cat’s skull where loose skin and flesh provided a natural pocket. Implanting the transmitter proved viable, once a device was packaged to withstand the temperature, fluids, chemistry, and humidity of the body. Microphone placement presented a more difficult problem since flesh is a poor conductor. Eventually, the ear canal became the preferred location. An antenna of very fine wire was attached to the transmitter and woven into the cat’s long fur. The cat’s size permitted only the smallest batteries, a factor that restricted the amount of hours the audio could transmit.
Research to determine the performance of the various individual components and the most effective placement areas was conducted first on dummies and then live cats. Documentation of reactions of the cats to the “foreign materials” and to nerve stimulation refined the research and eventually produced an integrated audio system suitable for dress rehearsal. Agency officials reviewed questions of humane treatment of the animals and the potential negative publicity should the activity become publicly known. After those factors were weighed against the operational value of the project’s success, the techs received authorization to go forward.
A small crowd stood behind the vet who conducted an hour-long procedure on a full-grown, anesthetized gray-and-white female cat in a clean, brightly lit animal hospital. The TSD chief audio engineer, seeing the first incision and a trace of blood, asked to sit down. No other complications arose, and after the cat awakened, she was put into a recovery area for further testing. Technically the audio system worked, generating a viable audio signal. However, control of the cat’s movements, despite earlier training, proved so inconsistent that the operational utility became questionable. Over the next few weeks, Acoustic kitty was exercised against various operational scenarios, but the results failed to improve.
Acoustic kitty demonstrated that transmitters could be embedded in animals without damage or discomfort. The experimental animals could be directed to move short distances to target locations and people in a known environment. However, outside the experimental laboratory, Acoustic kitty had a mind of its own. Eventually, deployment of Acoustic kitty in a foreign environment over which the “handler” would have no assured control was judged impractical and the project was closed.6
Exotic detours aside, OTS’s most productive audio ops followed a disciplined formula. Identify an operational requirement, select a target, survey the target, assemble the right equipment, establish a listening post, make the entry, install the device, test the system, restore any damaged area to original condition, dispose of any evidence of being there, and get out without getting caught. Audio techs improvised when it came to tools, combining an assortment of commercially available hardware store implements with specially fashioned gear made either in the lab or of their own design.
“Acoustic kitty” was TSD’s attempt to implant a clandestine listening device in a cat, mid-1960s.
In one operation, a tech used standard well-drilling equipment— configured to operate horizontally—to drill more than a hundred feet from the listening post to the target site on the opposite side of a major thoroughfare. “We bugged every room in that building, and then brought all the wire leads down to the basement,” the tech who led the operation remembered. “I surveyed in on where I wanted to enter the basement, then drilled a hole using just the azimuth and elevation data from the post to the target. I came out a foot away from target hole. The case officer