CIA Reading Room cia-rdp75-00149r000200590013-5: CIA INTERESTED IN CHAIR WITH LIE DETECTOR

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ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI POST QVcQ%Vor Release 2000/05/05 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000200590013-5 CPYRGHT 0 E-356,722 S-572,58.3 4...195. om.--.. !\ffE'RESTED IN CHAIR WITH L1E DETECTOR I? - C+hMclal Dispalc;~ Copnight j1967 WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 - t-The "wiggle seat," which must is rank as one of the most unusual. and expensive chairs in the his-i tory of furniture, is being deve1--1 Loped under the direction of the Central Intelligence Agency. I This electronic device looks; like an ordinary office chair.? 4 But the u n w a r y person who? takes a seat and b e g i n ,s to i' -answer questions may then be; 'subjected, without his knowl-? edge, to a lie-detector examina-' anon. - The project, in which both the. ;,CIA and the National Security! 'Agency have shown intense in-1 :'t e r e s t, is officially secret. A CIA spokesman, when a s k e dr '.'about it, declined to comment.} But several sources have con- ....firmed that the' CIA, through 1' contracts channeled to ' private] industry , by the Department of ..Defense, is pushing develop- ape:nt of the device. .:7he matter came to public .-view as.the Senate was debat-! ing Senator Sam J. Ervin'si 0.."bil1 of rights" for Government :.employes. The bill, which was ..passed by the Senate 79 to 4, ? sharply limits the use of lie-'I detector, or polygraph, tests by Government agencies, including CIA and NSA. Called Witchcraft The N o r t h Carolina Demo- I ?crat, who is scornful of poly- graph tests and refers tai them ;.:as "twentieth century w i,t c h-k, craft," told the Senate that the ..C I A was developing "a lie- detecting machine by means of which a person can be tested without his knowledge." In an exchange with Senator" Ralph Yarborough (Dem.), Tex- as, Ervin quipped, "If the Sena- for 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 the polygraph m a c h i a e, and the .'tHiggle seat.' " .. - ..... .,y ? 'CIA ttiterest in such a device -goes back at least five years, reliable sources said. It could not be learned whether the so- called "wiggle seat" has actual- '..?ly been put to work by the na- rtion's intelligence agencies, but I -s number of private companies, ','.who hold research and develop. r,.ment contracts from the De- ~-fense Department, are known to. :"be working on various aspects ..of the problem. The Philco-Ford C o r p. has ..just put on the market a device definition of a "wiggle seat." The new Philco product, de- veloped u n d e r contracts with t he National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Air Force, looks like an ordi- nary cushioned office chair - 4?w?ith one exception. An instrd- -'ment box protrudes from the chair's back. The person being,,- . :,tested must keep his hands in :.contact with metal plates on the :'arms of the chair. ' This d e v i c e, ' which costs $5250, is offered by Philco for at r'variety o f medical di