Spying Between Neighboring Countries: This Is No Fiction, How the CIA Used Birds to Counter Russia and Europeans

Author:

Mikhail Lyaikh

Who says pigeons are symbols of peace? The US intelligence agency has turned these feathered creatures into the most dangerous spies.

Logically speaking, with the advent of new revolutionary communication technologies, carrier pigeons should have been obsolete. However, the intelligence agencies did not let this happen; they realized that birds could still play an important role – not only as communication tools but also as spy tools: the CIA launched several top-secret projects.

Spies in Disguise: Pigeons with Special Cameras.

A Network of Intelligence Under Feathers

By the mid-20th century, CIA agents had gained experience in training and using carrier pigeons. The ability of pigeons to find their way back to their nests from distances of dozens or even hundreds of kilometers without additional training and consistently excellent performance was remarkable.

In 1956, the incident of a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft being shot down over the Soviet Union caused a major diplomatic scandal. The CIA believed it was time to develop modernized and miniaturized reconnaissance tools. At that time, the concept of "drones" had not yet emerged, but the United States was attempting to develop similar constructs, naming the project "Aquiline," which included multiple subprojects.

The project was classified as top secret, with most trials conducted in the "Area 51" of the Nevada Desert. The project's outcomes gave rise to various drones and aircraft, though most were developed two decades after the project's inception. In the 1960s, CIA agents came up with a simple yet ingenious idea: hanging cameras on pigeons.

One of the conceptual designs of the "Aquiline" project, resembling a mechanical bird.

Today, everyone's phone is equipped with high-quality cameras, but there were no digital cameras 70 years ago. Most cameras were bulky and large, and the CIA was facing this challenge. Americans decided to install automatic cameras on pigeons, which could take up to 200 photos. However, there was no prototype at the time, so research began at "Area 51" – soon producing compact and lightweight lenses.

More detailed information can be found on the CIA's official website: the device weighs less than 35 grams, can take hundreds of photos, and costs $2,000. Converted to today's currency, this is approximately $20,000, although CIA personnel claim this is a small sum for such a revolutionary product.

The CIA website mentions an interesting point:

"Why pigeons? Because they are the most common birds. Who would think that this pigeon is actually a secret spy bird for the CIA? Pigeons carrying cameras can photograph from 30 meters above the target, whereas airplanes like the A-12 and U-2 can only photograph from heights of 3-4 kilometers. Carrier pigeons equipped with cameras allow us to understand specific areas in greater detail."

Lockheed A-12 aircraft, first trials conducted in "Area 51".

"Tacana" Project

Birds carrying cameras were part of the "Tacana" project following the "Aquiline" project. Some details remain classified to this day – for example, the exact number of times birds participated in operations. The project aimed to apply birds extensively in military and reconnaissance operations.

Fascinating information can be gleaned from two CIA documents dated 1976. The first document is a project memo dated May 14, 1976, which clearly mentions that a working group was conducting experiments with birds in an unnamed city in Oklahoma, using 12 birds – though the specific species was not specified.

From the content of the document, it is known that the experiments continued until June 25, 1976. According to another CIA document NIO-2414 (dated August 6, 1976), all experiments yielded good results, allowing the training plan to continue.

From the content of the documents and historical facts, it can be determined that the project did not use pigeons but rather hawks or other similar raptors. An important detail in the files is that the photographs taken by the birds were captured at an angle during their dive, confirming once again that the United States used hawks as spy birds.

CIA experts stated that they needed several weeks to conduct final "tests" on the birds. Image: CIA website, screenshot from "Tacana" project documents.

Nuclear Spy Activities

A branch of the "Aquiline" project was nuclear espionage, and it was not through planes but birds. From CIA documents, it is known that in the 1960s, US intelligence agencies were fully focused on obtaining data about the Soviet nuclear program. The U-2 incident showed that large equipment could not provide reliable data about Soviet nuclear facilities. To address this, they selected 12 birds and installed special sensors on them, which could collect air samples during flight.

In addition, 70 years ago, CIA experts (as confirmed by declassified files of the "Aquiline" project) somehow created a special device that could convert waste heat generated by isotope decay into electricity, thereby enhancing the endurance of the birds. The exact working principle of the device remains unclear, but its existence has been proven.

Prototype of a mechanical bird from the "Aquiline" project.

"Traps" on the Balcony

Western media Spyscape reported that the CIA successfully trained crows to transport listening devices. According to the report, the biggest challenge the US faced in Eastern Europe was the lack of as many agents as in the Soviet Union.

CIA personnel explored every feasible method, thus contacting the department responsible for the "Aquiline" and "Tacana" projects, requesting colleagues to train birds to drop spy devices at designated coordinates. Initially, pigeons were considered, but due to the limitations of bird intelligence, agents chose crows – one of the smartest birds.

It is currently unclear how the training process worked or how crows were assigned precise geographical locations, but these birds successfully completed their tasks: they landed on diplomats' balconies and left behind listening devices. According to Spyscape reports, this operation was only carried out in Warsaw Pact countries, a fact also confirmed by related articles in Smithsonian magazine.

Crows land on the balcony of a diplomat and leave behind a "bug".

What Happened to These Projects?

However, most bird spy programs were unsuccessful and eventually shut down. Even the project using crows in Eastern Europe only lasted less than two years – because only a small fraction of the listening devices delivered functioned properly, and not all birds reached the correct location.

The best-performing were pigeons, which flew over Soviet strategic targets and required no long-term training: agents released them near borders or directly within the Soviet Union, and the pigeons took hundreds of photos on their way back to their nests. Other projects were not particularly successful. Some Western sources also claimed that birds were used to guide target attacks against our anti-aircraft artillery, but this plan also failed.

All details about bird espionage remain incomplete, as CIA documents about the "Aquiline" and "Tacana" projects were only recently declassified, and not all documents have been declassified. These experiments likely ceased in the 1980s when the first true drone prototypes emerged, naturally eliminating the need for birds.

However, other animal-related projects did not stop. For example, the CIA continued the "OXYGAS" project, training dolphins to locate mines and submarines. American media reported that dolphins were used by the US military during the 2003 invasion of Iraq to detect mines.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7516364731310834195/

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