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CIA Reading Room cia-rdp69b00369r000100190045-6: CIA IN MARKET FOR 'WIGGLE SEAT' CHAIRS
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Approved For. Release 2004/01/16,: CIA-RQP69BO0369R000100190045-6 O i'cro d1. J'i I S / '(s' u .:J C./ ~:a+ ti:.'a r BY JAMES X. 'BATTEN Chicano ore News Service Washington - The "wiggle seat," which must rank as one of, the most unusual and expen- sive chairs in the history of furniture, is being developed un- der the direction of the, Central Intelligence Agency. This electronic device looks like an ordinary office chair. ,But the unwary person who in- nocently takes a seat and be- gins to answer questions may l.h(vr Im suh,jccted, without lily iannwlydgc, to ii lie-(li, (l u' ex- n1111willon. 'I'lls Iu'ojcet, in which Will Ilia C[A and the equally scn.u- tive National Security Agency :have shown intense interest, is officially secret. A CIA spokes- man, when asked about it, de- clined to comment. Pushing for Device But several sources have con- firmed that the CIA, through contracts channeled to private industry through the Defenses Department, is pushing develop- ment of the device. The matter squirmed into pub- lic view as the Senate was de- bating Sen. Sam J. Ervin's "bill of rights" for government em- ployes. The bill, which passed the Senate 70 to 4, sharply lim- its the use of lie-detector, or polygraph, tests by government agencies,. including CIA and NSA. Ervin, D-N.C., who is scorn- ful of polygraph tests and re- fers to them a 20th century witchcraft," told the Senate that the CIA was developing "a lie-detecting machine by means of which a person can be tested without his knowledge." In an exchange with Sen. Ralph Yarborough, D: Texas, Ervin quipped, '"If the senator has any contact with the CIA, he had better be careful of where he sits..: it grieves me to think that the security of the United States is in the hands of men who place their faith in 'wiggle seat'." CIA interest in such a device It,could not be learned wheth- er the "wiggle seat" has been put to work by the nation's in- Pliflco Proiluct panics, who hold research and I development contracts from lulow > to he working on a;gn:cis of Ihn 1'rolllrvn, 'I'll(! Philco-I,'ord Corp, ha;; just. put on the market a de- vice called MediScreen w li i c h comes close to fitting Ervin's definition of a "wiggle seat." The new Philco product, de- veloped under contracts with the National Aeronautics a n d Space Administration (NASA) and the Air Force, looks like an ordinary cushioned office chair -with one exception. An instru- ment box protrudes from the chair's back. And ,the person being tested must keep his hands in con- tact with metal plates on the This device, which 'costs $5250, is offered by Philco for a variety of medical diagnostic tests that might be performed in a hospital, clinic or private doctor's office. No Straps But a Philco brochure, which mentions the lic-detector appli- cation only in passing; does em- phasize: "Nothing intrudes on the serenity of the setting. The patient does not see, much less 'wear,' an electrode ;- straps and
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The Congo, short for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is an equatorial country located in central Africa. As of July 2018, the CIA World Factbook lists the Congo containing over 85 million inhabitants representing over 200 African ethnic groups.
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