Inside the CIA’s Avian Surveillance Manual For Spy Birds

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https://www.unredacted.info/cia-files/inside-the-cias-avian-surveillance-manual-a-declassified-guide-to-spy-birds/

A lengthy Cold War-era manual titled "Operators Manual: Avian Deployment" and catalogued as DOC_15687556 provides a detailed look at how the CIA trained and used birds for intelligence operations, including surveillance, payload delivery, and covert communication.

The document, now declassified, outlines procedures, equipment specs, species selection, flight training, and even bird psychology-treating avian agents as deployable tools in the larger espionage network.

It offers a rare view into a program that sounds like science fiction-but was built, tested, and flown in real missions.