Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
Jennifer McKee of the Albuquerque Tribune writes in part: More than 2,000 Los Alamos National Laboratory employees may have to take lie-detector tests as part of an anti-spying program included in the Defense Authorization Bill signed into law this week. The program, which expands polygraph tests to as many 20,000 employees throughout the Department of …
In his statement regarding his signing of H.R. 4205, the “Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001,” Mr. Clinton writes: …I am deeply disappointed that the Congress has taken upon itself to set greatly increased polygraph requirements that are unrealistic in scope, impractical in execution, and that would be strongly counterproductive …
Walter Pincus and Vernon Loeb of the Washington Post report that the FBI does not believe that the 1995 Chinese defector whose information led to the spy hunt at the national laboratories was a double agent, as the CIA concluded. It appears that the CIA believed the defector to be a double agent primarily (if …
Walter Pincus of the Washington Post reports: Rejecting pleas from Energy Department officials, Congress has approved a provision that will require polygraphs for 5,000 additional employees of the department’s nuclear weapons complex, raising to near 20,000 the overall number that will be tested. The new language, part of the fiscal 2001 defense authorization bill that …
In an article entitled “Government Facing Charges of Racism,” San Jose Mercury News correspondent Lenny Savino reports on five cases of alleged ethnic profiling by FBI, CIA, and DoD counterintelligence officials. Polygraphy figures prominently in four out of five of the cases discussed. For more on the case of David Tenenbaum, which features prominently in …
Steven Aftergood reports in today’s edition of the electronic newsletter Secrecy News: POLYGRAPH HELL AT THE NATIONAL LABORATORIES In its mad pursuit of a misconceived ideal of “security,” Congress has quietly imposed broad new polygraph testing requirements on Energy Department employees and contractors. Subtle changes adopted in the conference on the defense authorization bill will …
Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy reports in today’s edition of the electronic newsletter Secrecy News that House-Senate conferees have approved legislation that severely limits the Secretary of Energy’s authority to grant polygraph waivers. The following is an excerpt (emphasis added): DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL BOOSTS SECRECY The House-Senate conference …
Michael H. Capps Edward T. Pound of USA Today writes that the Department of Defense Inspector General has concluded that Department of Defense Polygraph Institute director Michael H. Capps misappropriated $4,100 worth of government-earned frequent-flier miles and misled investigators when questioned about the matter. Mr. Pound’s article leaves unanswered the question, “Did the disgraced director …
Kimball Perry of the Cincinnati Post reports that Presiding Judge Robert S. Kraft of the General Division of the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas will ask judges to support expanded use of tax-payer funded polygraph “tests.” Judge Kraft has previously urged that polygraph “tests” be used in all felonies. Judge Kraft needs to know …
Vincent Morris and Deborah Owen of the New York Post report that “George W. Bush staffers offered to take lie-detector tests yesterday as they pressed the FBI to solve the mystery of whether a mole gave a debate prep video to rival Al Gore’s camp.” Mr. Bush’s staffers need to learn about the lie behind …