Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
Doug Harlow reports for the Kennebec, Maine Sentinel on a lawsuit brought under the Employee Polygraph Protection Act. Excerpt: WATERVILLE — Bull Moose Music and a former employee have come to terms on a combined lawsuit filed after the store allegedly was robbed by a masked man in August 2001. Vickie Shuman, 20, now of …
Associated Press writer Kimberly Hefling reports how an innocent suspect failed his FBI polygraph “test,” while his lying accuser passed. Excerpt: EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) – An FBI agent who helped arrest eight Egyptian men in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks became the driving force behind clearing their names, an arduous process that eventually …
This UPI article is cited here in full: ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Sept. 10 (UPI) — A New Mexico judge has recommended the state discontinue using lie detector results in court, saying the tests are too unreliable. New Mexico is the only state to routinely permit the results of polygraph, or lie detector, tests to be entered …
Akron, Ohio Beacon Journal staff writer Lisa A. Abraham reports. Excerpt: The chairman of the Summit County Board of Elections wants all board members to take polygraph tests voluntarily to protect the board’s integrity. Russell Pry made the suggestion at a board meeting Tuesday night. The county Democratic Party chairman said he would put a …
Bob Park of the American Physical Society comments on Department of Energy polygraph policy in his weekly What’s New column: 2. POLYGRAPH ROULETTE: DOE HAS MASTERED “THE EXPECTATION GAME.”A two-year study by the National Academy of Sciences, “The Polygraph and Lie Detection,” showed polygraph testing to be less than worthless (WN 18 Apr 03). You …
Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy comments in his Secrecy News e-mail publication: DOE RESTRUCTURES POLYGRAPH PROGRAM Under pressure from members of Congress, scientific critics and others, the Department of Energy said that it will reduce its reliance on polygraph testing to screen its employees. “The approach I am …
Andrea Widener reports for the Contra Costa Times. Excerpt: Under mounting pressure, the Department of Energy will scale back its massive polygraph testing program to half its previous size, a move that may halt mandatory screening tests for some nuclear weapons workers. The decision is a sudden turnaround for the DOE, which this summer had …
Staff writer Ian Hoffman reports for the Oakland Tribune. Excerpt: In an about-face, top U.S. nuclear weapons officials said they plan on scaling back polygraph testing for thousands of weapons scientists and workers, in part to avoid driving them away. Yet the U.S. Energy Department’s proposed reduction of polygraph testing still would leave enough top …
Associated Press correspondent Robert Gehrke reports in this article published in Newsday. Excerpt: WASHINGTON — The Energy Department plans to use fewer polygraph tests to detect espionage at energy labs after a study said employees could be unjustly accused — in effect reversing a policy that grew out of the Wen Ho Lee investigation. The …
Richard Willing reports for USA Today. This short article is cited here in full: WASHINGTON — Citing ongoing doubts about the accuracy of lie detectors, a top Energy Department official said Thursday the department plans to eliminate routine screening of most employees. About 20,000 Energy Department workers, including many with access to secret weapons programs, …