In one of the news articles posted on antipolygraph.org, someone said:

"What you've got is a universe of individuals who could have the knowledge, ability and wherewithal to do this--and how do you separate them? How we're doing that here is by asking them to submit to voluntary polygraphs," said a federal law enforcement official who asked not to be identified.

To me, this situation sounds like one in which a Concealed Knowledge Test could be used effectively.

-Vance

George/Vance,

This is apparently one of the few times in which I must differ with my highly esteemed colleague, George.  I have in fact suggested to the FBI that they consider using a concealed information test format.  I believe there may well be sufficient information regarding the anthrax prep and dissemination to conduct such an examination.  I have further suggested using central nervous system (CNS) measures in addition to or instead of autonomic nervous system (ANS)-based measures.  The latter recommendation should make the test considerably more robust and less susceptible to countermeasures than a typically performed ANS-based CQT examination, shortcomings of which readers of this site have been made quite aware of.  Although I believe strongly that that which I have just stated to be true, it is proper for me to state (for the benefit of those who may not know) that a company that commercially provides concealed information test examinations for criminal specific testing and specific screening applications now employs me.  These latter applications are not related to the general screening examinations that are routinely administered to job applicants and others and which are the subject of proper criticism on this site.  I however do agree with George that the simple-minded approach of the "Did you do it?" CQT format has been a long standing stumbling block for the polygraph community and could be again.   Hopefully our present and imminent need for meaningful solutions in this case will lift present thinking above that impasse…

In recent days, Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, has publicly emerged as the FBI's leading suspect in the ongoing anthrax investigation, though the Bureau has publicly denied that he is a suspect, euphemistically referring to him as a "person of interest." It seems Dr. Hatfill lost his security clearance in July 2001 (shortly before the anthrax mailings) after failing to pass a polygraph screening examination. However, he has reportedly passed an FBI polygraph interrogation regarding the anthrax attacks.

For further reading, see Laura Rozen's 26 June 2002 article, "Who is Steven Hatfill" on the American Prospect website; Scott Shane's article "Scientist theorized anthrax mail attack" (The Baltimore Sun, 27 June 2002); and another article also by Scott Shane, "Frederick scientist's home searched in anthrax probe" (The Baltimore Sun, 26 June 2002).

Fred,

With regard to Wen Ho Lee, note that he passed one polygraph "test" in the "Kindred Spirit" investigation: that administered by the Department of Energy in December 1998. Then, in February 1999, he "failed" a polygraph administered by the FBI. (There is reason to suspect that this latter "test" was rigged; see Chapter 2 of the 2nd ed. of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector for details.) In addition, Dr. Lee was never charged with taking any classified material home. Rather, the charges involved copying data designated "PARD" ("Protect as Restricted Data") from a classified to a non-classified partition of Los Alamos National Laboratory's computer system, and to back-up tapes.

When you write that Dr. Hatfill "should have been 'detained' and polygraphed several times ala Dr. Lee" I hope you're being facetious!

The information in the above-linked articles raises some questions about Dr. Hatfill; I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that he's the perpetrator of the anthrax attacks, however. Bear in mind, for example, how David A. Tenenbaum, Wen Ho Lee, and retired Navy petty officer Daniel M. King were publicly portrayed before trumped up allegations against them collapsed.

But it is entirely possible that the FBI did not scrutinize Dr. Hatfill as closely and as promptly as it might otherwise have done, since, after all, he had passed a polygraph "test" regarding the anthrax mailings. Nonetheless, it's clear after the FBI search of his home last week that the Bureau still considers him a suspect.

It seems reasonable to suppose that many of the laboratory employees polygraphed in the ongoing anthrax investigation will have learned about polygraph countermeasures, whether from this website or other sources, just as many employees at the national atomic weapons laboratories have done.

Drew, Vance,

After reading Dr. Barbara Hatch Rosenberg's Analysis of the Anthrax Attacks on the Federation of American Scientists website, I'm more optimistic that there might be sufficient information about the preparation and dissemination of the anthrax letters with which to construct a concealed information test, at least for some (but perhaps not all) of those who have come under suspicion.

I read two newspaper articles (one in Insight and one in AP). Basically, the doctor lied about his background in Africa. Well if you're a white man in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) or South Africa, either you're anti-black or pro-blacks. Most investigators and polygraphers don't understand international relations. "Was the ANC a pro-terrorist group or not? Was Mandela a terrorist or not? Umm, I don't know!!!!"
Apparently Hatfill did not served in the Rhodesia Special Air Service (over 300 white Army guys) or the Selous Scouts (200-400 white men with 1,700 blacks) and was the most destructive counter-guerrillas group ever.

beech trees,

Where did you read/hear that Steven Hatfill failed three CIA-administered polygraph examinations?

Laura Rozen reported in June that Dr. Hatfill had failed a CIA pre-employment polygraph exam last summer, but passed an FBI-administered exam regarding the anthrax mailings.

But in today's New York Times, in an op-ed piece titled, "The Anthrax Files," Nicholas D. Kristof writes that Dr. Hatfill "has...failed three successive polygraph examinations since January, and canceled plans for another polygraph exam two weeks ago."

That would suggest a total of five completed polygraph examinations, though I haven't found any other published references to the three failed polygraph examinations this year to which Kristof refers.