“Dealing With Polygraph Testing”

Steven Aftergood of the American Federation of Scientists’ Secrecy in Government Project writes in today’s edition of Secrecy News:

DEALING WITH POLYGRAPH TESTING

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are organizing to defend their legal rights in the face of new Department of Energy polygraph testing requirements.

The Society of Professional Scientists and Engineers (SPSE), an organization of Livermore employees, has developed its own “consent” form that documents the rights of those who are compelled to undergo polygraph testing. The new form and related materials may be found on the SPSE web site here:

http://www.spse.org

Of particular interest, SPSE commissioned a background paper from attorney Andrew Thomas Sinclair entitled “If You are Asked to Take a Polygraph Examination: A Guide for Employees at LLNL” that is posted here:

http://www.spse.org/Polygraph_guide.pdf

The continuing controversy over the efficacy and propriety of polygraph testing is rehearsed most recently by Diana Ray in the Washington Times’ Insight Magazine (July 2-9, 2001):

http://www.insightmag.com/archive/200107025.shtml

Antipolygraph.org, led by polygraph critic George Maschke, provides the latest news on polygraph testing, pursues the release of polygraph-related documentation under the Freedom of Information Act, and makes a commendable effort to engage polygraph proponents in dialog and debate. See:

http://www.antipolygraph.org