CIA's Cold War Spy Dragonfly: How 1970s Engineers Built a Tiny Robot to Deliver Laser-Reflecting Beads for Covert Surveillance

In the 1970s, the CIA Created a Robot Dragonfly Spy. Now We Know How It Works.

CIAIn late December 2003, the CIA revealed many never-before-seen tools of the spy trade at its own museum near Washington. These included a listening device designed to look like tiger excrement that recorded troop movements in Vietnam, and a robot fish that collected water samples near hidden nuclear plants. Then, there was a tiny dragonfly.At first glance, this 1970s Cold War artifact looked like any Common Green Darner (Anax junius) or maybe a Blue-faced specimen (Coryphaeschna adnexa) if yo...