The Daily Northwestern published the following letter by George Maschke in response to Sheila Burt’s 16 May 2003 article, “CIA recruiters more Moneypenny than Bond”: CIA recruiter Elizabeth was less than candid when she told Northwestern students that “those who tell the truth have nothing to worry about” regarding the polygraph. The National Academy of … Read more
Frank Munger reports for the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Excerpt: OAK RIDGE – It’s a real-life variation of the game truth or consequences. The Department of Energy figures the potential consequences of a security breach in the nuclear weapons program are so grave that extraordinary precautions must be taken. That includes truth testing for key employees. Despite … Read more
Sheila Burt reports for the Daily Northwestern on the campus visit of two CIA recruiters, Marcus and Elizabeth, in an article titled, “CIA recruiters more Moneypenny than Bond.” Excerpt: …applicants must go through a rather extensive interview process before becoming official CIA agents. The process includes a background check, a lie detector test and a … Read more
Chris Ingalls reports for KING5.com. Excerpt: SEATTLE – The polygraph promises to find the answer and that’s why it is widely used in Washington state to screen potential employees for high-security jobs. But there are new doubts about whether lie detectors really work. In today’s security-conscious environment, much of the tax money is used to … Read more
U.S. Senate Bill 1025, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004, envisages future research into alternative technologies to the polygraph. The relevant section of S. 1025 is cited in full here: SEC. 355. COORDINATION OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RESEARCH ON SECURITY EVALUATIONS. (a) WORKSHOPS FOR COORDINATION OF RESEARCH- The National Science Foundation and the Office … Read more
Denver Post reporter Nancy Lofholm reports in an article titled, “Blagg interrogation at issue.” Excerpt: GRAND JUNCTION – On the morning of Feb. 5, 2002, Michael Blagg failed a two-hour polygraph exam conducted by an FBI expert. Later that day, after more than 10 total hours of interrogation, Blagg allegedly broke down, sobbed, prayed and … Read more
Washington Post staff writer Susan Schmidt reports in an article titled, “Physicist’s Case Examined for Link to Alleged Spy.” Excerpt: FBI inspectors are now poring over the activities of [former Supervisory Special Agent James J.] Smith’s squad. According to sources with knowledge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, two other agents who worked with the … Read more
Davis Enterprise staff writer Elisabeth Sherwin reports in an article titled, “Sheriff Prieto pushes high standards.” Excerpt: [Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto] said 15 people interviewed recently to become deputy sheriffs. As part of the screening process, candidates are routinely given polygraph tests. Out of the 15 who took the test, only four passed and … Read more
On Wednesday, 7 May 2003, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted former FBI supervisory special agent James J. Smith over his handling of confidential informant and accused Chinese double agent Katrina M. Leung. The indictment alleges Smith failed to report Leung’s refusal in 1991 to submit to a polygraph examination and instead represented … Read more
Jeff Daniel reports for the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch. Excerpt: Now that the Modesto, Calif., case involving Laci Peterson has evolved into the latest high-profile murder turned media spectacle, one of the questions surrounding defendant/husband Scott Peterson will likely be this: Why hasn’t he taken a lie detector test to back up that “not guilty” plea? … Read more