Despite a 2003 finding by the National Academy of Sciences that “[polygraph testing’s] accuracy in distinguishing actual or potential security violators from innocent test takers is insufficient to justify reliance on its use in employee security screening in federal agencies,” an internal memorandum to employees at Los Alamos National Laboratory posted on the blog, LANL: The Rest of the Story, announces the implementation of a program of random polygraph screening encompassing over 5,000 LANL employees and some 3,800 employees at Sandia National Laboratories.
Last year, AntiPolygraph.org News anticipated the possibility that DOE’s publicly announced reduction in the number of employees subject to routine polygraph screening might result in a significant ramp up of its program of random polygraph screening as the Office of Counterintelligence attempts to ensure full employment for its complement of polygraph operators. This seems to be precisely what has happened.