Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
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 …
Lincoln Wright of the Canberra Times reports that ASIO officers “will be the first to undergo a new trial of lie-detector tests after the Howard Government endorsed a report recommending tougher rules to fix leaks of national security secrets.” Australia should learn from America’s mistakes, not repeat them.
In his electronic newsletter, Secrecy News, Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy reports on Department of Defense plans to expand reliance on polygraphy. DoD’s FY 1999 polygraph report states: In an effort to eliminate or reduce the number of unauthorized disclosures of classified information to the media, we plan …