There is no single answer to this question and the CIA has been known to employ any number of regular pistols. However, in 1975, Director of Central Intelligence William Colby showed Congress an electric pistol that was specifically designed for the CIA. It used a poison dart that was intended to disintegrate upon contact with a body and not leave a trace as to the source beyond a small mark on human flesh. Remarking on the Colt .45, TIME magazine reported "the gun fires a toxin-tipped dart, almost silently and accurately up to 250 ft. Moreover, the dart is so tiny--the width of a human hair and a quarter of an inch long--as to be almost undetectable, and the poison leaves no trace in a victim's body." Committee chairman Frank Church remarked that it was an efficient method for killing people, to which Colby replied, "It is a very serious weapon."
25 MAY 1973 MEMORANDUM FOR: Executive Secretary, CIA Management Committee 1. This memorandum sets forth a recommendation for your approval in paragraph 5. 2. For the past several years, this office has been supporting the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) by spotting, assessing, and recruiting personnel to form an internal security unit whose primary mission is the detection of corruption within the BNDD. Subsequent to the recruitment and training stage, the individuals selected are turned over to the Chief Inspector of BNDD for operational guidance and handling in their various domestic assignments. 3. Recently, this Agency has extended this activity by supporting BNDD in the covert acquisition of individuals who are hired as Staff Agents utilized under nonofficial cover and directed against the principal international drug traffickers. These individuals are true employees of the BNDD and, although all administrative details relative to their employment are handled within...
Comments