Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
Steve Dulas writes for the Northern California Contra Costa Times. Excerpt: RIO VISTA — James Storm of Rio Linda insists the 40.65-pound striped bass he caught to win the Rio Vista Striped Bass Festival was not just another fish tale — and he’s getting a lawyer to back up his claim. Storm, 37, had posed …
Moscow Times staff writer Valeria Korchagina reports on the lie detector business in Russia. Excerpt: It’s no secret that hi-tech military plants in Russia have been forced to churn out pots and pans to make ends meet. But the connection between military and civilian technologies works both ways, and once-classified devices have found their way …
In a letter to the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s “Readers Forum,” R. Roberts Stevens points out congressional hypocrisy with regard to polygraph “testing.” Stevens’ short letter is cited in full here: Leaking classified information and polygraphs I read a news report on CNN describing President Bush’s anger over recent leaks of classified information. The report …
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reports on a proposal under consideration by the International Cricket Conference (ICC) to require Test cricketers to submit to polygraph interrogations every six months. Excerpt: Player representatives have given a cool response to a proposal to make Test cricketers undergo lie detector tests every six months as part of the …
In an article titled, “Acquittal in Fire at Stable,” Newsday staff writer Pete Bowles reports on alleged police misconduct in the polygraph interrogation of a Brooklyn man. Excerpt: A high school dropout who told police that he accidentally sparked a fire that killed 21 horses in a Brooklyn stable was acquitted Friday by a jury …
Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Secrecy in Government Project reports in today’s Secrecy News electronic newsletter: SENATE EASES DOE POLYGRAPH POLICY Buried in the Defense Authorization Act approved by the Senate this week is language that would repeal the Department of Energy’s controversial polygraph policy and replace it with a more measured …
San Diego television station KGTV reports on the case of Ibrahim Nasser in a Yahoo! news story titled “Local Man Feels Threatened by FBI.” This short article is cited here in full: Lebanon-born U.S. citizen Ibrahim Nasser spent four hours talking with the FBI Monday. Nasser was first introduced to 10News viewers Sunday, when he …
Jim Wilson writes for Popular Mechanics. Excerpt: Lie detectors have never been popular. Criminals, obviously, don’t like them. The courts want nothing to do with them, and refuse to admit polygraph results as evidence. Police have mixed feelings–depending upon whether they are giving the test or taking it. Although the billion-dollar polygraph industry administers an …
Veteran polygrapher Theodore Paul Ponticelli writes in Justice: Denied — The Magazine for the Wrongly Convicted. Although a supporter of polygraphic interrogation, Ponticelli offers pointed criticism of the polygraph community. Excerpt: The American Polygraph Association (APA) in all appearance should be the watchdog of the industry, but it is no more than a trade association …
Birmingham News Washington correspondent Mary Orndorff reports. Excerpt: ALEXANDRIA, Va. The former Birmingham cab driver arrested the night of the terrorist attacks passed an FBI polygraph test and will not be charged with any crime related to the plot, his lawyer said Tuesday. Federal prosecutors in Virginia declined to comment on the status of the …