Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
In “Betrayed By Your Brain?” (9 October 2006) Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Faye Flam reports on No Lie MRI, a Philadelphia start-up company that will soon offer “lie detection” services to the public: Betrayed by your brain? A Phila. company is poised to offer a lie-detecting MRI, though questions about its reliability remain. By Faye …
Andrew Stephen skewers polygraphy in this feature article published in the 16 October 2006 issue of the British periodical, the New Statesman: The truth about the lie detector Features Andrew Stephen Monday 16th October 2006 Critics claim that polygraph testing is as credible as the tooth fairy or witchcraft. Yet the US government still relies …
Roger Snodgrass of the Los Alamos, New Mexico Monitor reports on the newly revised Department of Energy polygraph policy in an 11 October 2006 article titled “DOE Curbs Polygraphs”: The Department of Energy has published a new final rule for how it will use polygraph tests, claiming it will “significantly” reduce the numbers of people …
In his Secrecy News newsletter & blog, Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Sciences publishes news and commentary regarding the Department of Energy’s decision, published in the Federal Register, to reduce the number of employees subjected to polygraph screening. See “Energy Department Will Significantly Reduce Polygraph Testing.” However, while the new polygraph policy may …
On 29 September 2006, United States District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan granted summary judgment (90 kb PDF) to the defendants in Croddy, et al. v. FBI et al. (Civil Action No. 00-651 [EGS]), dismissing the lawsuit which challenged the FBI’s and U.S. Secret Services’ pre-employment polygraph policies whereby applicants are denied employment based solely on …
Jeff Stein, Congressional Quarterly’s national security editor, reports on the U.S. Department of Justice’s recently released report, “Use of Polygraph Examinations in the Department of Justice” (1 mb PDF). Excerpt: The FBI and three other Justice Department components are conducting over 16,000 polygraph tests a year, even though they have no uniform standards for administering …
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in its decision (43 kb PDF) in U.S. v. Linda Gay Allard (Case No. 05-20087) filed on 11 September 2006, upheld the admission of testimony regarding a polygraph examination administered by Special Agent William Wind of the United States Secret Service. After failing the polygraph, …
As mentioned by Washington Post staff writer Walter Pincus in a recent article, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence‘s recently released report, The Use by the Intelligence Community of Information Provided by the Iraqi National Congress (9.5 mb PDF), documents three intelligence sources who provided unreliable information but nonetheless passed DIA polygraph screening examinations. …
On Saturday, 9 September 2006, Washington Post staff writer Walter Pincus reported on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s recently released review of pre-war intelligence on Iraq in an article titled, “Report Details Errors Before War.” Excerpt: The long-awaited Senate Intelligence Committee report released yesterday sheds new light on why U.S. intelligence agencies provided …
In its new Model Policy for Law Enforcement Pre-Employment Screening Examinations, in defiance of law enforcement agencies across the country that disqualify applicants based on nothing more than failure to “pass” a pre-employment polygraph examination, the American Polygraph Association (APA) holds, at para. 3.12.1.3, “The decision to hire, or not to hire an applicant, should …