Attorney Mark S. Zaid discusses polygraph policy in this op-ed column. Excerpt: In the wake of the FBI’s embarrassment at having one of its own caught spying for the Russians, former FBI director William Webster was appointed to head a commission to find out what went wrong. The commission concluded that lax security allowed Special … Read more
Fort Worth, Texas Star-Telegram staff writer Mike Cochran reports. Excerpt: FORT WORTH – It was going to be James Byrd’s day of vindication. After spending almost five years in prison for a crime that he and his older brother Donnie Johnson say Johnson committed, Byrd took a polygraph test Tuesday in the special crimes unit … Read more
The Associated Press reports in this article published in the Amarillo Globe-News. Excerpt: DALLAS (AP) – This is a story about two brothers and a crime that changed their lives. One brother is serving a 30-year sentence for aggravated robbery. The other is living with the agonizing guilt that he put his younger half brother … Read more
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blasts the FBI’s plans for more lie detector “testing” in this editorial. Excerpt: The bureau’s plan to expand the use of lie detector tests is just plain unprofessional and unscientific. The fact is, they are notoriously unreliable. Aldrich Ames, the CIA agent who in 1994 admitted to spying for Russia, passed … Read more
Associated Press correspondent Jesse J. Holland reports. Excerpt: April 9, 2002 | WASHINGTON (AP) — While two U.S. citizens have been arrested for espionage since July, increased FBI lie detector tests have uncovered several lesser security transgressions among FBI employees, the agency’s security chief said Tuesday. None of the information gained from the 700 polygraph … Read more
The Beauregard Daily News reports in an article titled,”La. Supreme Court upholds dismissal of policeman.” The officer’s dismissal was based in large part on polygraph “evidence.” This short article, which is no longer available on the Beauregard Daily News website, is cited in full here: The 1997 dismissal of Johnny M. Evans, Sr. from the … Read more
The Commission for the Review of FBI Security Programs, better known as the Webster Commission, has delivered its report to the Attorney General, and it may now be downloaded as a 1.14 MB Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file from the U.S. Department of Justice website at: http://www.usdoj.gov/05publications/websterreport.pdf Substantive discussion of polygraph policy begins at p. 67 … Read more
Kelli Arena and Carol Cratty of the CNN Washington Bureau report. This short article is cited here in full: WASHINGTON (CNN) — The FBI is asking key scientists involved in the anthrax investigation to take polygraph tests, federal officials said Friday. The voluntary exams, which gauge the subject’s truthfulness, mark authorities latest attempt to find … Read more
Brian Ross reports in an ABCNEWS.com article titled, “No Suspects, Few Clues.” Excerpt: April 4 — Six months after the government first said a man in Florida was sick with anthrax, which later killed five people and set off a nationwide panic, federal investigators say they have no suspects and few clues. The FBI asked … Read more
Bob Rosner writes for the Wall Street Journal Center for Entrepreneurs Startup Journal. Excerpt: I recently received a letter from a small-business owner who responded to a rash of small thefts in the workplace with company-wide lie-detector tests. Before you start any fishing expeditions with your employees, I thought you’d benefit from hearing the following … Read more