Albuquerque Journal staff writer John J. Lumpkin reports. Excerpt:
Some scientists at Sandia National Laboratories are charging that lie-detector tests started in the wake of the Wen Ho Lee case have become a little too personal.
Polygraphers are asking scientists about their medical histories, including what medication they take, said Al Zelicoff, a medical doctor, physicist and one of 26 senior scientists at Sandia.
Zelicoff said labs director C. Paul Robinson has threatened to withdraw from the Energy Department’s polygraph program if the medical questions aren’t stopped.
Sandia spokesman Bruce Fetzer said only that the matter is “in discussion about the extent to which (the questions) are appropriate.”
The polygraphers ask the medical questions because the medications could affect the test, Fetzer said.
Not true, says Zelicoff, adding senior Defense and Energy Department officials have acknowledged no medications could affect polygraphs.
“You are dealing with a bunch of scientists here, and they know the difference between science and nonsense,” Zelicoff said. “They are not putting up with it.”