CIA Reading Room cia-rdp69b00369r000100190045-6: CIA IN MARKET FOR 'WIGGLE SEAT' CHAIRS

📝 Description

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