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JFK with an AR-15, and General Clifton with a CIA-designed crossbow, USA, 1963
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this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2025
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Seriously, CIA, we gave you a blank fucking check during the Cold War, financially and morally, and THAT’S the best crossbow you could come up with? Fucking useless.
That ain't even CLOSE to the best they could come up with:
THIS (the "little joe") is peak CIA crossbow design.
Now THAT'S the Cold War insanity I was expecting
How do you cock it?
incredibly carefully, because the darts were supposed to be dipped in poison (iirc ricin was supposed to be used). I have no idea what they were thinking with the Little Joe Penetrometer, I've never been able to find any evidence that it was ever used.
I found a caption that claims that the crossbow was "designed for use as a silent weapon in counterguerilla operations, such as in Vietnam." I suspect it was designed to be simple, resilient, and with easily-interchangeable parts.