In a knee-jerk reacton to the Hanssen case, the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has called for increased use of polygraph screening at the FBI. In an article titled “Russian Spy Case Worries Congress,” Carol Skorneck of the Associated Press writes:
WASHINGTON (AP) – The arrest of a veteran FBI agent on charges of spying for Moscow shows the bureau must beef up security and regularly give lie-detector tests to all counterintelligence agents, the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman said Tuesday.
The case of Robert Philip Hanssen, 56, could represent “a very, very, very serious case of espionage,” Republican Sen. Richard Shelby said in a telephone interview from his home state of Alabama.
“I think it sends a message that the FBI is going to have to be more vigilant in dealing with its own agents that are assigned to the areas of counterintelligence,” said Shelby, who said he was briefed about the case a week to 10 days ago. “I don’t know offhand if the FBI agents are routinely polygraphed or not, but if they’re dealing with counterintelligence, they ought to be.”