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Wed - October 29, 2003


CIA Celebrates 40th Anniversary With Weird, Wacky Devices 



"Stand back, Dr. No, or I'll be forced to unleash this catfish!" 

If you've ever wondered whether real-life spy gadgetry approaches its movie counterparts, you'll be fascinated by this article about a private exhibit at CIA headquarters to celebrate the agency's 40th anniversary:
    The CIA once built a mechanical dragonfly to carry a listening device but found small gusts of wind knocked it off course so it was never used in a spy operation.

    The agency also tested a 24-inch-long rubber robot catfish named "Charlie" capable of swimming inconspicuously among other fish and whose mission remains secret.

    The CIA also showed off its miniature technology.

    A microdot camera had a tiny lens on top of what looked like a thick coin, which contained a film that rotated 11 times to produce 11 microdots.

    Another item on display was newly declassified triangle-shaped directional antenna, weighing four ounces and used on mobile surveillance operations throughout the 1980s.

Incredibly, the mechanical dragonfly was a CIA project as long ago as the 1970s—which makes one wonder what goodies they've got now. And perhaps that's one reason the CIA let a reporter write about the exhibit.

But if the exhibit tantalizes more than it illuminates, it may nevertheless suggest the answer to one long-standing question: Why the United States failed to discover the 9-11 plot far in advance:

"Master Osama, have you ever seen a catfish slithering into an Afghani cave before?"

"What?!?"

CRUNCH!

 

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