Category «Polygraph»

Former CIA Officer Brian O’Neill on Why the Trump Administration’s Polygraph Campaign Against Leakers Is Unlikely to Succeed

Former CIA officer Brian O’Neill has written a cogent and well-researched essay for the non-profit, independent news organization, The Conversation titled, “Trump administration’s lie detector campaign against leakers is unlikely to succeed and could divert energy from national security priorities.” Excerpt: The Trump administration has recently directed that a new wave of polygraphs be administered …

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Reporter Kevin Gosztola Speaks with AntiPolygraph.org Co-Founder George Maschke about the Trump Administration’s Reliance on Lie Detectors

Journalist Kevin Gosztola spoke with AntiPolygraph.org co-founder George Maschke for his Dissenter Update podcast. Their conversation, which addresses topics including the scientific shortcomings of polygraphy, the use of polygraph screening in an attempt to deter whistleblowing, and how federal employees can protect themselves, begins a little past the ten-minute mark:

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Polygrapher David Goldberg Interviews AntiPolygraph.org Co-founder George Maschke

On 14 May 2025, AntiPolygraph.org co-founder George Maschke challenged polygrapher David Goldberg, host of the Inside the Polygraph podcast, to explain why, if as Goldberg had maintained in a podcast episode on pre-employment polygraph screening, “you can’t [beat a polygraph test],” any polygrapher would care whether a person has looked up how to beat a …

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John Young, RIP

While traveling abroad recently, I was saddened to learn that New York architect John Young, who co-founded the website Cryptome, died on 28 March 2025. He was 89 years old. Cryptome was and remains a site dedicated to making documents available to the public that governments would rather keep secret. I was in communication (usually …

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CNN on the Trump Administration’s Use of Polygraphs as an Intimidation Tactic

CNN senior writer Zachary B. Wolf comments on the Trump administration’s use of polygraphs to go after federal employees who speak with journalists. His well-researched article, “The Trump administration revives an old intimidation tactic: the polygraph machine,” was published on 5 June 2025. Excerpt: When President Ronald Reagan’s White House threatened thousands of government officials …

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Senior FBI Executives Reportedly Being Polygraphed at a “Rapid Rate”

In an article titled “Unease at F.B.I. Intensifies as Patel Ousts Top Officials,” New York Times national security reporter Adam Goldman notes the increased use of polygraphs under FBI Director Kash Patel’s leadership to discourage employees from speaking with journalists. Excerpt: The F.B.I.’s increasingly pervasive use of the polygraph, or a lie-detector test, has only …

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Trump Administration Using Polygraphs to Investigate Unclassified Leaks

Marisa Taylor, Ted Hesson, Alexandra Alper, and Helen Coster report for Reuters in an article titled, “Trump officials are using polygraph tests to flush out even minor leaks.” Their reporting is based on “conversations with nine current and former federal government employees under the current administration who described a concerted effort to expose leaks of …

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Retired Federal Polygraph Operators Awarded $42 Million Federal Contract

The Department of Defense has announced that Capital Center for Credibility Assessment Corporation, a private company run by retired federal polygraphers Patrick J. Roche, Donnie Dutton, and Donald Krapohl, has been awarded a $41,868,715 five-year contract to provide polygraph services for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The DoD announcement, dated 19 May 2025, is reproduced …

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On DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s Polygraph Crusade

Last month, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem boasted to broadcaster Tim Pool, “We’re polygraphing everybody!” This month, in an article titled “Inside Kristi Noem’s Polygraph Operation,” Michelle Hackman and Tarini Parti report for the Wall Street Journal that Noem’s polygraph interrogations often concern the leak of information that is not classified. Excerpt: WASHINGTON—In …

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Senior Pentagon Advisor Ricky Buria Allegedly “Failed to Pass a Polygraph” in Leak Investigation

Hugo Lowell reports for the Guardian in a 9 May 2025 article titled, “White House to take choice of Pentagon chief of staff out of Hegseth’s hands” that the White House Office of Presidential Personnel has forbidden Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth from making Ricky Buria, whom Hegseth designated in April 2025 as a “Senior …

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