Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
This Huntsville Times editorial warns of the danger of substituting polygraphy for effective counterintelligence reform. Excerpt: A kid takes a gun to school and shoots some classmates. So parents and administrators respond by banning baggy pants and nose rings. A career FBI agent is arrested and charged with spying for the Soviet Union and then …
Dan Verton reports in Computerworld that FBI computer systems specialists have been targeted for polygraph “testing.” Excerpt: (March 26, 2001) The FBI has quietly expanded its use of the polygraph to cover systems administrators and all other employees with access to sensitive computer networks and databases, marking the first time that government IT specialists have …
Washington Post staff writers Dan Eggen and David A. Vise provide new details about the expanded polygraph screening of FBI employees ordered by Director Louis Freeh. Excerpt: About 500 FBI employees with access to intelligence information will be given lie detector tests beginning next week, the first security reform to come from the arrest of …
In an article mistitled “Freeh beefs up FBI’s security,” Washington Times correspondent Jerry Seper reports that FBI Director Louis Freeh has already ordered expanded polygraph screening within the Bureau. Excerpt: FBI Director Louis J. Freeh, stung by the arrest of one of his own agents as a Russian spy, has ordered sweeping changes in the …
Knight Ridder Washington bureau correspondent Lenny Savino reports. Excerpt: WASHINGTON – The FBI has responded to the Robert Hanssen spy case by quietly ordering polygraphs of 500 FBI employees in key national security positions. “Before this only those with access to very sensitive cases were required to take polygraphs,” FBI spokesman Bill Carter said Thursday. …
In this commentary, WorldNetDaily staff writer Jon E. Dougherty argues for polygraph screening at FBI. Excerpt: Is it just me, or does the federal government get more arrogant by the year? A report by CBS News last week demonstrates well the government’s worsening “us versus them” mentality. It seems that FBI agents are ticked off …
BBC News reports that the British Security Service MI5 is considering adopting polygraph screening. Excerpt: Tom King, chairman of the [Intelligence and Security Committee], said that it was actively looking at the possibility of using lie detectors to vet recruits and root out traitors. The defections to the then Soviet Union of Guy Burgess, Donald …
On CBS Evening News, correspondent Jim Stewart reported on opposition to polygraph screening within the FBI. Excerpt from story on CBS News website: (CBS) CBS News has learned that FBI Director Louis Freeh is encountering stiff resistance to a plan to require widespread polygraph testing within the bureau in an effort to root out spies. …
In this letter to the editor of the Los Alamos Monitor, Rick Nabel elaborates on Professor William G. Iacono’s recent remarks at a colloquium at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Excerpt: [Professor Iacono]…told me that he considers polygraphy to be the most boring thing he works on. Like many of us here at Los Alamos, he …
In this CNSNews.com commentary, retired FBI agent Gary Aldrich cautions against reliance on polygraphy. Excerpt: We must be more careful when we set about to protect our national security. Our children are counting on us to make good decisions, and sometimes those decisions call for tough solutions – not some hocus-pocus quick-fix remedy to get …