They Called it, Disguised it, as a Dragonfly

Tabassum Zakaria reports for Reuters that the CIA built and tested a dragonfly-sized UAV that was designed to carry a listening device short distances. The CIA says it never used it, and that its full mission is still secret.

The agency had a micro-mic and transmitter that the spooks thought was just the thing for listening to people who didn't want to be heard. We've all seen enough of those spy movies -- where spies meet on sidewalk cafes, because they don't trust their offices and hotel rooms -- to know that an insect-sized device would go unnoticed, at least until someone slapped it.

The original idea was to disguise the UAV as a bumblebee, but, as everyone knows, bumblebees aren't supposed to be able to fly... and the CIA's effort was proof of that theory. An entymologist suggested a much-better-designed six-legged flying machine -- a dragonfly -- as the perfect vehicle, and the CIA built one.

The thing flew, it is said, a bladder carrying liquid fuel of some sort. A watchmaker built the engine, which actually made the wings beat. A laser steered the little bug [get it? -- "bug" --ed.] at ranges that were, one would guess, measured in tens of feet.

The machine is on exhibit at the 40th anniversary of the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology, but the public, naturally, can't get in.

The CIA says it never used the dragonfly-UAV, and that it built just the one. While a real dragonfly is used to coping with wind gusts, this machine simply couldn't. Whether today's technology could easily control the little "insectothopter" is a matter for speculation... inside the agency.

FMI: www.cia.gov