The spy cat that died
"they slit the cat open, put batteries in him, wired him up. The tail was used as an antenna. They made a monstrosity. They tested him and tested him. They found he would walk off the job when he got hungry, so they put another wire in to override that. Finally, they’re ready. They took it out to a park bench and said “Listen to those two guys. Don’t listen to anything else – not the birds, no cat or dog – just those two guys!” ... They put him out of the van, and a taxi comes and runs him over. There they were, sitting in the van with all those dials, and the cat was dead!"
It goes on to note:
"the environment and security factors in using this technique in a real foreign situation force us to conclude that, for our [intelligence] purposes, it would not be practical.”
Quoted from document 27 of this Electronic Briefing Book in National Security Archive. via Dave's blog.
Dave Barry's books and columns are an absolute riot. It is good to see that we have sent his new weblog to the top of blogdex today.