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CIA Reading Room cia-rdp75-00149r000200590012-6: CIA IN MARKET FOR 'WIGGLE SEAT' CHAIRS
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September 21i, 1967 ,Apprcived- For Release 2000/05/05 :,CIA-RDP75-Q01 Silent Lie Detector CIIA in Market, For the polygraph machine and the CPYRGHT 0 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 then be subjected, without his knowledge, to a lie-detector ex- amination. The project, in which both L the CIA and the equally sensi- tive National Security, Agency :have shown intense intcrest, is officially secret, A CIA spokes. man, when asked about it,. de- clined to comment. Pushing for Device But several sources have con- `wiggle seat'." =QhWaftemb goes back at least five years, according to reliable sources. It could not be learned wheth- er the "wiggle seat" has been put to work by the nation's in- telligence agencies. Philco Product But a number of private com- panies, who hold research and development contracts f r o the Defense Department, are known to be working on aspects of the problem. "It Grieves Me . - - " The Philco-Ford Corp. baste just. put on the market a de- vice called MediScreen w h 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 an 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 don- tact with metal plates on the arms of the chair.". 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. n what Sen. Ervin calle he "wiggle seat" Is Space/De- "ense Corp. of Bingham I. . Malcolm Ross, the. firm' resident, said the compa ad developed a'worlcable po A.- :,. firmed that the CIA; through contracts channeled to private industry through the; Defense Department, is pushing develop- ment of the device. The mdtter 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 79 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 , bettor. 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
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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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