Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
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 press release with the foregoing title, Tri-Star International of Coronado, California, announces that it is marketing a voice stress analyzer for passenger screening. The press release, distributed by Internet Wire, is reproduced in full here: SAN DIEGO, CA — (INTERNET WIRE) — 10/11/2001 — Tri-Star International announced today their Voice Stress analyzer has …
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 …
Barnaby J. Feder reports for the New York Times about Dr. Lawrence A. Farwell’s brain fingerprinting technique. Excerpt: Since the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, Dr. Lawrence A. Farwell has been arguing that terrorist operations can be investigated through careful monitoring of the brain waves emitted by suspects during interrogation. The claim did not …
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 …
Julia Scheeres reports for Wired News. Excerpt: U.S. investigators are facing the daunting task of sorting through more than 700 suspects in connection with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A neuroscientist from Iowa says he’s got the perfect tool to help them do it. Lawrence Farwell says he has devised a test that will ascertain …
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 …