Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
Miami Herald Washington correspondent Tim Johnson reports. Excerpt: WASHINGTON – Even though confessed Cuban spy Ana Belen Montes already outwitted a lie-detector test, the government plans to rely on polygraph exams to check her honesty as they debrief her about her 16-year spying career while working for U.S. military intelligence. Montes took a polygraph examination …
Laura Sullivan of the Baltimore Sun reports in an article titled, “FBI sets its bar high for aspiring agents.” Excerpt: Just to be considered, applicants must be U.S. citizens between ages 26 and 36, with at least three years of full-time work and a four–year college degree. Those who qualify undergo a series of written …
John Springer reports for Court TV. Excerpt: In the 26 years since 15-year-old Martha Moxley was found bludgeoned to death on her own lawn, the list of suspects has included a pair of brothers, a tutor and even a gardener. There was Kenneth Littleton, the live-in tutor for the Skakel family, Kennedy family relatives who …
The Associated Press reports on counterespionage measures adopted by the FBI in the wake of the Hanssen affair, including a discussion of the Bureau’s counterintelligence-scope polygraph program. Excerpt: Former CIA and FBI Director William Webster is wrapping up a massive review of the FBI’s internal security in the aftermath of the Robert Hanssen spy case. …
Knight-Ridder Washington correspondent Tim Johnson reports in an article published in the Miami Herald on the guilty plea of DIA analyst Ana Belen Montes, who was recruited by Cuban intelligence even before she began her DIA career. Excerpt: WASHINGTON – A senior U.S. intelligence analyst, Ana Belen Montes, admitted in federal court on Tuesday that …
Tim Golden of The New York Times reports on the case of Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) analyst Ana Belen Montes, who according to court documents was already working for the Cuban Directorate of Intelligence when she joined the DIA in September, 1985. If Montes was ever subjected to a counterintelligence-scope polygraph “test,” then it would …
John McDonald reports for the Orange County [California] Register on the $10,000,000 lawsuit brought by a man who spent 19 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of murder. Excerpt: The two Orange County public defenders who represented DeWayne McKinney on murder charges say they kept secret for 20 years their belief that he flunked …
Emma Young reports for the NewScientist.com news service. Excerpt: People who think of themselves as being intuitive make worse lie detectors than those who do not trust in a “gut instinct”, according to new research. “People generally aren’t very good at detecting lies – accuracy is between 45 and 65 per cent,” says Paul Seager …
Taipei Times staff reporter Brian Hsu reports in an article titled, “NSB plans oversight committee.” Excerpt: National Security Bureau (NSB) director Tsai Tsao-ming…yesterday said that the bureau has begun instituting plans for the formation of a legislative committee to oversee intelligence. Tsai said the plans were in line with recent legislative proposals to better monitor …
Larry Lebowitz and Wanda J. DeMarzo of the Miami Herald report. Excerpt: Former Broward Sheriff’s detention deputy Andrew Johnson repeatedly gave deceptive answers to lie-detector questions posed by detectives investigating the murder of Deputy Patrick Behan, according to a memo summarizing the tests. Johnson, who was fired from his job as a jail guard four …