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This particular example is far too embarrassing to make up. Why would you make up something which shows you being so incompetent?

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/shrug. i can think of any number of totally hypothetical reasons why demonstrating incompetence would be a strategic or tactical win.

- now your enemy is complacent, secure in the knowledge that you are super super dumb

- now your enemy is on the lookout for dog and cat listening devices rather than the 5th generation bird listening devices

- now your enemy is indeed paranoid about any stupid animal roaming about and has to meet in enclosed spaces

- you, knowing that experimenting on cute cats is unethical, seek to terminate the practice by devising an experiment that fails so embarrassingly as to never be tried again

etc

This was only declassified in 2001, though; the state of the art in bugging cats has presumably improved significantly, so it's no longer relevant.

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