THE MIND’S CANVAS 173BOX 48: IF THEY CONSTRICT, YOU CAN CONVICTIn 1989, while working with the FBI on a matter involving national secu-
rity, we repeatedly interviewed a spy who, while being cooperative, was
nevertheless reluctant to name his co-conspirators involved in espionage.
Attempts to appeal to his sense of patriotism and his concern for the mil-
lions of people he was placing in harm’s way got us nowhere; things were
at an impasse. It was essential that this man’s other associates be identi-
fied; they were still at large and presented a serious threat to the United
States. Left with no alternatives, Marc Reeser, a friend and brilliant intel-
ligence analyst with the FBI, suggested using nonverbals in an attempt to
glean the information we needed.
We presented this spy with thirty-two three-by-five-inch cards pre-
pared by Mr. Reeser, each with the name of someone with whom the
felon had worked, and who potentially could have assisted him. As he
looked at each card, the man was asked to tell, in general terms, what
he knew about each individual. We weren’t specifically interested in the
man’s answers, since clearly words can be dishonest; rather, we were
watching his face. When he saw two names in particular, his eyes first
widened in recognition, and then his pupils quickly constricted and he
squinted slightly. Subconsciously, he clearly did not like seeing these
two names and somehow felt in danger. Perhaps those individuals had
threatened him not to reveal their names. This pupilary constriction
and slight squinting were the only clues we had as to the identity of his
co-conspirators. He was not aware of his nonverbal signals, and we did
not comment on them. However, had we not looked for this eye behav-
ior, we never would have identified those two individuals. The two ac-
complices were eventually located and interviewed, at which time they
confessed their involvement in the crime. To this day, the subject of
that interview does not know how we were able to identify his fellow
culprits.