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MI5 Considered Gerbil Lie Detectors for Interrogations
20 Feb
Summary
- MI5 once explored using gerbils to detect lies through stress hormones.
- A proposed contraption involved suspects placing hands into a gerbil-filled box.
- Pigeons were also utilized by British intelligence during World War Two.
The former director of MI5, Lord Jonathan Evans, disclosed a peculiar historical proposal within the spy agency: using gerbils to aid in interrogations. A classified document explored training these rodents to detect stress hormones associated with lying. The concept even extended to a unique lie detector contraption.
This proposed device would have involved suspects interacting with gerbils, which would then signal potential deception. Despite the formal documentation, Lord Evans noted the plan's impracticality, stating it 'doesn't actually work.'
This unusual idea surfaces as part of British intelligence's broader history of employing animals. Notably, pigeons were used by MI5's precursor during World War Two. Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller, Lord Evans' predecessor, shared her mother's role in training homing pigeons for crucial wartime intelligence missions, directly saving lives.
