Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
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 …
In today’s edition of All Things Considered, Barbara Bradley of National Public Radio reports on FBI polygraph policy. You will need RealPlayer to listen to the segment, linked in the excerpt below: FBI & Polygraphs — NPR’s Barbara Bradley reports that the recent FBI spy scandal has caused the agency to consider testing its employees …
Washington Post staff writer Dan Eggen reports on FBI polygraph policy. Excerpt: It seemed like a routine polygraph screening. Mark Mallah and his colleagues, members of an FBI counterintelligence unit in New York, were hooked up to lie detector machines and quizzed about drug use, contacts with foreigners and other subjects deemed vital to their …
In an article entitled, “Tapes were key to freeing accused Elyria man,” Sabrina Eaton and Stephen Koff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer report on an apparent extreme case of polygraph abuse by the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service. On 9 March 2001, the U.S. Navy dropped espionage charges against Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel King. …
Philip Shenon, in a New York Times article entitled, “Public Lives: A Former Insider to Investigate the Investigators,” discusses among other things, Judge William H. Webster’s thoughts on expanding polygraph screening in the FBI. Excerpt: WASHINGTON — When he was the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, William H. Webster figured that if he …