Non-Human Operatives

It's challenging to consider animals as potential clandestine agents, partly because it's challenging—practically impossible—to teach them about the complexities of contemporary geopolitics. It would be unfair to fully rule out the possibility, though, given the large number of officially unsubstantiated claims of nations deploying animals for spies in recent years.

Consider the recent report of the discovery of a beluga whale in Norwegian seas, complete with a mount suitable for holding a camera or a weapon and a tight harness bearing the words "Equipment of St. Petersburg" inscribed inside. Norwegian experts were certain that it was one of numerous Russian animal spies hired to gather intelligence in the area, despite Russian authorities' refusal to admit it was one of their own.

Then there are the claims that the US military used dolphins to detect mines in the Persian Gulf in 1987 as well as to secure its fleet during the Vietnam War. One ex-Navyman who claimed to have participated in a clandestine dolphin-training program went so far as to say that some of these dolphins had been taught to use carbon dioxide syringes to kill spies.