On Wednesday, 28 March 2001,
CBS Evening News reported that some scientists at
Sandia National Laboratories are refusing to submit to polygraph screening. The report is available on the CBS News website at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,282238-412,00.shtml CBS News correspondent David Martin interviewed senior scientist Alan P. Zelicoff, who stated, "What has precipitated the crisis within the Department of Energy is that the polygraphers are asking individual subjects what medications they're taking despite their promises not to do so." Some might wonder what all the fuss is about, and I'd like to share here some information about this topic that should help shed light on the situation.
As anyone who has submitted to a polygraph interrogation is no doubt aware, it is standard operating procedure for polygraphers to ask subjects during the "pre-test" interview what medications they are taking. Most no doubt answer the question without a second thought, thinking that it is important for the polygrapher to know this information because it could somehow influence the outcome of the "test."
But Dr. Gordon Barland, formerly chief of countermeasures research and instruction at the
Department of Defense Polygraph Institute (DoDPI) and recently retired, is reported to have claimed at a "technical briefing" on polygraphy held on 7 September 1999 at Sandia National Laboratories that
there are no medications that have any effect on the utility of polygraphy. Speaking at the Department of Energy's public hearing on polygraph policy at Sandia National Laboratories on 16 September 1999, Dr. Zelicoff stated:
Quote:...Dr. Barland's [sic] stated that there were no medications that have any effect on the utility of polygraphy, and he claimed to have a reference. I'd like to know what that reference is. I've been unable to find such a reference after looking through Science Citation Index, which includes 15 million review articles. There is not a single article that has both polygraphy and drug effects either in the abstract title or full text.
A transcript of the 16 September 1999 hearing cited above may be downloaded in PDF format (190kb) at:
http://antipolygraph.org/hearings/doe-1999/9-16hear.pdf If there are no medications that have any effect on the utility of polygraphy, then why do polygraph examiners routinely ask subjects what medications they are taking?! And if, on the other hand, Dr. Barland's claim was untrue, and medications can indeed influence the outcome of a polygraph "test," then what medications produce what effects? And what specific steps do polygraphers take to factor in the effects of specific medications in scoring polygraph charts? And what peer-reviewed scientific research supports any such practice? (Dr. Barland, if you're reading this, any light you could shed on this question would be most welcome.)
For further (and highly illuminating) reading, see Dr. Zelicoff's forthright comments to former DOE security "czar" Eugene Habiger and his correspondence with Dr. Andrew Ryan of DoDPI, which are available on the Society of Professional Scientists and Engineers website at:
http://www.spse.org/Polygraph_comments_Zelicof.html