Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
“When the president travels overseas, the Secret Service will bring along a polygraph examiner in case they need to determine quickly whether someone acting suspiciously is intent on doing harm.” So note Marc Ambinder and D.B. Grady in a parenthetical remark at p. 164 of their new book, Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry. …
The Arabic-language website Nashwan News reports that the U.S. embassy in Sana’a, Yemen is forcing all locally hired staff to undergo polygraph interrogations, and that any who fail to pass will be terminated. The policy has reportedly had a severely negative effect on employee morale, with some submitting their resignations in protest. AntiPolygraph.org has e-mailed …
On Monday, 25 March 2013, the School of Polygraph Science in Phoenix, Arizona filed suit in federal court against the American Polygraph Association (APA) and its officers. The complaint stems from the APA’s revocation of the school’s accreditation on 29 January 2013 following an unannounced inspection on 5-6 November 2012. The School alleges libel, slander, …
Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur of the on-line news show, The Young Turks, discuss Coopertown, Tennessee police chief Shane Sullivan’s plan to use lie detectors to keep racists off the police force: For relevant discussion of this story on AntiPolygraph.org, see “Can Polygraphs Really Keep Racists out of Law Enforcement?”
News organizations across America yesterday carried an Associated Press story about how the police chief of a small town in Tennessee was using polygraphs to “weed out racists” from the hiring process: Police Chief’s Polygraph Targets Racist Applicants By SHEILA BURKE Associated Press COOPERTOWN, Tenn. March 8, 2013 (AP) A police chief hired to rebuild …
Conor McKeever, writing for Imperial College, London’s science magazine, I, Science, asks the question and in a concise, well-researched article, answers it with a resounding “no,” concluding: “It’s time to expose the fact that lie detectors do not actually ‘tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’ but only someone’s interpretation of …
Historian Ken Alder gave an entertaining presentation at the 2011 Chicago Humanities Festival that has just now come to our attention. He discusses the origins and early history of polygraphy in the United States. Enjoy.
Marina Portnaya of Russia Today (RT) reports on polygraph screening by the federal government of the United States. Those interviewed include retired CIA polygraph examiner John Sullivan, McClatchy reporter Marisa Taylor, and Professor Stephen Fienberg, who headed the National Research Council’s Committee to Review the Scientific Evidence on the Polygraph: Ironically, the Russian interior ministry …
Marisa Taylor of McClatchy Newspapers reports that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is drafting a new national policy on polygraph screening. Excerpt: WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is drawing up a new national polygraph policy in the wake of allegations that federal agencies are pushing legal and ethical limits during screenings of job …
McClatchy Newspapers investigative reporter Marisa Taylor has published a new series of well-researched articles on federal polygraph screening programs: Feds expand polygraph screening, often seeking intimate facts As polygraph screening flourishes, critics say oversight abandoned Federal polygraph programs are secret even to researchers U.S. polygraphers questioned accuracy of tests on detainees overseas Apart from numerous …