Did you know the CIA tried to train a cat to be a spy? This and other surprising spy facts

By Lyz Lenz, The Gazette

Being a spy isn't all trench coats and secret decoder rings. Often it's long hours at a computer, reading books in the library or having coffee with someone you hate. The Central Intelligence Agency is the government agency that coordinates all of the United States' spy activity. It has a kids page with a lot of fun information about how to become a spy, famous spy missions and games and puzzles. You can visit the site by having an adult help you go to cia.gov/kids-page. There is also an interactive museum on counterintelligence that you can visit at intelligence.gov/wall-of-spies.

Here are some fun facts about spies from the CIA:

' In the 1960s, the CIA spent $15 million on a project called Acoustic Kitty, where agents tried to train a cat to be a spy. They inserted a listening device into the cat's ears and tried to get him to sit near the people they wanted to spy on, who were on a park bench. Well, you know cats, they don't cooperate. The project was a huge failure.

' The CIA also trained pigeons to be spies! In the 1970s, the CIA made a camera so small it fit on a pigeon's back and as the pigeon flew back and forth, the camera would take lots of pictures.

' During World War II, Virginia Hall was a spy who freed prisoners of war from the Nazis. She did it all with a wooden leg she named Cuthbert.

' The CIA has a library that is a lot like a normal library, except it also has books on deception, magic, secret codes and the hand signals that baseball players use to communicate during games.

' Hercules Mulligan was an Irish immigrant and tailor who spied on the British during the Revolutionary War. Mulligan was married to the niece of an admiral in the Royal Navy so the British trusted him with fixing their torn uniforms. Twice Mulligan was able to save George Washington's life by gathering information from officers who came to him for help.

' Elizabeth McIntosh worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II, and her job was to write fake news stories about the Americans to confuse the Japanese. We promise none of the news stories in The Gazette are written by spies.