In the swinging 60s, the CIA decided to add some real claws to its espionage game with the purr-suit of Acoustic Kitty. This top-secret project aimed to turn cats into undercover agents, sneaking into Soviet embassies and eavesdropping on their conversations. But instead of a James Bond-esque feline, what they got was a $20 million catastrophe. Picture this: a vet-turned-spy-surgeon implants a microphone in a cat's ear, a radio transmitter near its skull, and wires snaking through its fur. All in the hopes of capturing Soviet secrets. However, the agency quickly found out that cats don't care about international intrigue as much as they care about food. After more surgery to curb the cat's hunger-induced distractions, the furry spy was ready for its first mission. The scene was set outside the Soviet embassy in Washington, D.C. The plan? Eavesdrop on two unsuspecting humans. But plot twist! As soon as the cat was released, it reportedly got hit by a taxi, ending its career before it even began. Talk about a cat-astrophe! However, former CIA insiders have disputed this tale, saying the real issue was trying to train a cat to follow orders (shocker!). They claim the project was shelved not because of a car accident, but because our feline friend just wasn't cut out for the spy life. They even say the cat lived a long, happy life afterward, minus the spy gear. Despite the CIA's best efforts, training a kitty to sneak around and gather intel proved more 'Mission Im-paws-ible' than they'd anticipated. The project was canned in 1967, with a memo admitting that the logistics of using a cat for espionage were just too impractical. Acoustic Kitty was officially benched, and the world had to wait until 2001 for this bizarre chapter of Cold War history to be declassified.