Dave Marash reports for ABC Nightline on the security crackdown at Los Alamos National Laboratory, including the new DOE polygraph screening program. Excerpt:
JOHN BROWN, DIRECTOR, LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LAB The–the polygraph issue is a real challenge for a scientific culture like ours.
DAVE MARASH (VO) Los Alamos lab director John Brown doesn’t hide his discomfort with the polygraph plague. He’s proud of his record of resistance to it.
JOHN BROWN It’s been reduced by limiting the numbers to selected people who have access to the most sensitive information that this laboratory possesses. The numbers are small at this laboratory right now. It’s less than about 200 people.
DAVE MARASH Just days after our interview with Dr. Brown Congress mandated wider use of the polygraph, putting hundreds more employees at Los Alamos lab, and potentially thousands more within the Department of Energy, on the list for regular, periodic polygraph examinations.