CIA Heart Attack Gun
Mary Embree, who began her career in the CIA as a secretary in the Audio-Surveillance Divison before being promoted to the Technical Services department, says she was asked to research a poison that would induce a heart attack in its victim but would be undetectable in a post-mortem. Embree’s research led to the development of a top-secret weapon known as the “heart-attack gun.”
It involved the freezing of shellfish toxin mixed with water to form a frozen dart which would then be fired from the heart attack gun. Once inside the body, the poison would then dissolve into the person’s bloodstream and cause a heart attack.
In 1975 CIA Director William Colby presented the weapon at a Church Committee hearing, chaired by Senator Frank Church. The heart attack gun was a handgun with a sight affixed to the top, had a battery in the handle, and used electricity to fire a dart.
Colby told the committee that the weapon was capable of firing a dart that could enter the body “without perception.” The only way of knowing that the person had been shot by the weapon, was the presence of a tiny red dot at the point of entry. Colby also claimed that the poison would not show up in the autopsy. The official cause of death would, therefore, be deemed a heart attack. The weapon was developed in order to allow the CIA to commit assassinations that could never be traced back to them.