The Craziest CIA Operations That The Government Doesn't Want You To Know About

Whether you realize it or not, the Central Intelligence Agency is controlling everything around you. Otherwise known as the CIA, these are the guys responsible for gathering any and all information going on throughout the world. They keep all matters of business in check, even if it's not their business in the first place. But what does this mean for us? Well, everything.

They are essentially pulling all of the strings. Their authority is truly far-reaching and overrides most common sense. Former CIA Director William Colby was quoted as once saying, "The CIA owns everyone of major significance in the major media." He isn't lying either.

It's their duty to protect the well being of their citizens, even if that means hurting them. We all know that the U.S. will go out of their way to run things the way they want. And most of the time, that means some dirty play is involved.

While they have chilled out in recent years, don't expect them to just slow their role down completely. They're still very much active and better at cleaning up their tracks than ever before. So the next time you are shocked at an unexplainable event or tragedy, just remember -- it's not always what it seems.

The Centralized Intelligence may just be behind it. Don't believe me? Check out the different ways they've manipulated the public in the past. These are the craziest CIA operations that the government doesn't want you to know about.

Project Pigeon (1944)

Technology was so primitive during World War II that the CIA actually enlisted pigeons to conduct some of their operations. So what exactly were they trained to do? Well just help guide their missile systems. Nothing important, really (sarcasm).

Researcher BF Skinner was hired by the agency to teach these birds a thing or two about defending our country. Unfortunately there was never really any progress as the pigeons would just fly off course. That's $25,000 down the drain for one of the stupidest projects in our country's history.

Operation Northwoods (1962)

The CIA proposed Operation Northwoods to President John F. Kennedy in 1962. The Cold War was in full effect and in order for the U.S. to take the upper hand against Cuba, they were forced to do something drastic. The controversial project entailed the U.S. government actually going out and committing a series of violent terror acts against their own people. From bombings, to hijackings, riots and assassinations, they were ready to dish it all out.

But why would the United States commit such heinous crimes against their own people? Well that's because they wanted to have a good excuse to put all of the blame on Cuba and wage war against the communists. They just needed a good reason. With Fidel Castro in power, they were looking for any way to remove this status. JFK eventually rejected this offer. These plans were released in 1997 and this may just have something to do with his assassination.

Operation Mockingbird (1951)

Americans were being fed tons of propaganda during the 1950s. And this was all thanks to Operation Mockingbird. The CIA conducted mass manipulation of some of the largest press agencies. Everything from the New York Times to Newsweek and even Time Magazine were a part of this.

Literally every story or headline they ran was controlled by the CIA. This was, as a result, a heavy influence to the public opinion. However this operation came to light in the 1960s and the public realized that they had3 been duped.

Acoustic Kitty (1967)

In perhaps the most wasteful attempt of obtaining intelligence, the CIA set out to use the common house cat as a master of espionage. The results? Well just as you'd expect.

Over $20 million was invested into "Acoustic Kitty" as recording devices were strapped to the felines and even had surgically implanted microphones, antennae and batteries in their tails. The goal was to release them around the Russian embassy to collect intel. Unfortunately the first cat put into the field was run over by a taxi and the operation was dropped shortly after.

The Bay of Pigs Invasion (1960)

The Bay of Pigs was supposed to be one of the biggest operations in our country's history. However after much miscue, the secret operation to invade Cuba ended up more violent than was intended.

Over 1,300 Cubans were trained by the CIA to dethrone Castro. However Cuban intelligence soon became aware of these plans. As a result of this project, 100 Americanized Cubans and 2,000 Cubans were killed. And that was all during the initial assault. Americans were soon forced to surrender as they were fully ready for an attack.

Operation Mongoose (1962)

In another attempt to overthrow Castro, the CIA implemented Operation Mongoose. This time it was a little more straightforward as members were looking to assassinate him.

One of the interesting ways they went about this was by poisoning his own personal supply of cigars.  Fidel somehow ended up surviving all of these frivolous attempts and this operation was yet another failure.

Operation Midnight Climax (1950s)

During the 1950s and 60s, the United States was being introduced to a bounty of new drugs, many of which they didn't know the effects of yet. So what did they do? Well they tested them -- using human subjects of course.

LSD was one of the biggest mysteries and thanks to the CIA, citizens were being administered the trippy drug in an interesting way. The program used safe houses, from California to New York, filled with prostitutes to lure the people in. Once inside, the gentlemen would be more open to experimenting and from there agents could observe them through two-way mirrors.

Here they could see behavioral patterns of the drug and subsequently watch some free live porn. Not a bad deal I guess. But after sexual blackmail became an issue, the operation died down. Good thing they collected enough data.

The Stargate Project (1995)

As per usual, the CIA is always looking for any edge when it comes to collecting data. So when posed with the prospect of studying psychic abilities, they threw in a measly $20 million to launch the Stargate Project.

Using self-proclaimed psychics, this project turned out to be a major failure due to some pretty piss poor results. I guess if there really was such a thing as super human abilities, the government would be using them.

"Operation Gay Sex" (Ongoing)

On more than one occasion, the CIA considered actually producing their own gay porn. But not to be creepy or anything. They were said to have use communist leader look-alikes in order to change their people's perception of them. I guess that is a little creepy.

Especially in communist countries, these types of acts are frowned upon more than anywhere else in the world. The CIA last suggested to use this tactic during the second Gulf War using Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden. Fortunately, this went nowhere and we were all spared from some truly scary sh*t.

Project MK-ULTRA (1950s - Today)

In the most daring of operations conducted by the CIA, the agency decided to conduct experiments of mind control to essentially create "zombies" to perform certain tasks. The test subjects were once again American citizens who were recruited and given LSD or amphetamines, electric shocks and various forms of brain washing.

People were pretty much tortured and pushed to their limits, both physically and chemically. The results of Project MK-ULTRA were successful although what that entails remains to be classified. It is also said that these acts are still being carried out today, however on a much less hazardous scale.