CIA Weapon Reveal: The CIA is called before Congress to reveal a unique assassination tool, a pistol that fires a dart causing death without detection.
Effectiveness: Victims are unaware of being hit, leading to death in seconds without detectable evidence.
Background
Events Leading to the Reveal:
CIA's involvement in major scandals involving domestic spying on American citizens.
Establishment of the Church Committee to investigate CIA activities.
Discovery of lethal shellfish poison (saxitoxin) in CIA storage capable of killing hundreds of thousands.
The Church Committee Hearing
Purpose: Public televised hearing to expose CIA's misconducts.
Chairman: Led by Senator Frank Church, aiming to reveal the CIA as a "rogue elephant".
CIA's Explanation: CIA Director William Colby claims toxins were meant for field agents as a more humane alternative to cyanide pills.
Development of the Heart Attack Gun
Timeline:
1950s: Cold War tensions lead the CIA to develop a weapon similar to the KGB's poison vapor gun.
Mary Embry: A CIA secretary tasked with finding an undetectable poison that mimics a heart attack.
Collaboration: CIA worked with Army Special Operations to develop the delivery system for the poison.
Design and Functionality
Technology: Non-discernable micro-bionoculator, known as the heart attack gun.
Mechanism:
Appears as a normal .45 caliber pistol.
Battery-powered to silently fire a dart over long distances (up to 100 meters).
Darts coated with poison causing an apparent heart attack without detection during autopsy.
Legal and Ethical Issues
Illegality: By the hearing time, such weapons were illegal under U.S. law due to President Nixon's chemical warfare ban.
Disobedience: Some CIA and Army personnel stored toxins despite the ban.
Aftermath and Impact
Church Committee Report: A 2,700-page document detailing disturbing CIA operations including political assassination plans and mind-control experiments.
Unanswered Questions: Uncertainty about whether the heart attack gun was ever used and its fate after the hearing.
Conclusion
The existence of the heart attack gun raises concerns over secretive and potentially lethal operations by intelligence agencies.