“The Fallout at Los Alamos”

Dave Marash reports for ABC Nightline on the security crackdown at Los Alamos National Laboratory, including the new DOE polygraph screening program. Excerpt: JOHN BROWN, DIRECTOR, LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LAB The–the polygraph issue is a real challenge for a scientific culture like ours. DAVE MARASH (VO) Los Alamos lab director John Brown doesn’t hide his … Read more

Ohio Prosecutor Drops Charges Against Woman Who Passes Lie Detector “Test”

Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Susan Ruiz Patton writes in an article entitled, “Sheriff releases trailer owner, awaits lab test results in slaying”: RAY, Ohio – An owner of the trailer where police found the body of a former Shaker Heights woman was released from jail yesterday after passing a lie-detector test. Vinton County Prosecutor Timothy … Read more

“Lawyers Battle Over Polygraph: State Wants to Tell Jurors Chmura Refused to Take a Lie-Detector Test”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel staff writer Lisa Sink writes: [Mark] Chmura, 31, a former Green Bay Packers tight end, has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of third-degree sexual assault and child enticement. Authorities have accused him of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl in a bathroom in the home of Chmura’s neighbor Robert Gessert. The prosecutors’ … Read more

Government Still Relying on Polygraphy in Wen Ho Lee Investigation

Washington Post staff writer Walter Pincus, in an article entitled, “For Government, Wen Ho Lee Mystery Deepens” writes that efforts to recover from a New Mexico dump the data tapes that Dr. Lee allegedly threw in a trash bin have been fruitless. Pincus observes: Under the terms of Lee’s plea agreement, the 10 days of … Read more

“ETHICS COMPLAINT: Polygraph Expert: Test Inconclusive”

Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Frank Geary reports on a polygraph “test” that the Review-Journal paid Nevada polygrapher Dick Putnam to administer to Gene Smith, a fired Clark County, Nevada employee who has filed an ethics complaint “accusing Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny of conspiring to break into the county administration building to copy records in … Read more

“A Boom in Polygraph Studies”

Steven Aftergood reports in today’s edition of the electronic newsletter Secrecy News: A BOOM IN POLYGRAPH STUDIES Now that Congress has drastically expanded the number of national security personnel who are subject to polygraph testing, the government is belatedly initiating new studies to test the validity of the polygraph. The Department of Energy will release … Read more

“$860,000 DOE Study to Evaluate Polygraphs”

Jennifer McKee of the Albuquerque Journal writes in part: The Department of Energy intends to sink almost a million dollars into an upcoming study to determine – once and for all – how well widespread lie detector tests work in preventing espionage. “While we must take the utmost precaution in protecting the nation’s secrets with … Read more

“DOE Agrees to Fund Bingaman-Urged Polygraph Validity Study”

A press release from Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). Excerpt: Bingaman first suggested a comprehensive review of the science behind polygraphs last year when he opposed DOE’s plans for expanded polygraph testing of its employees. In October 1999, Bingaman proposed and won Congressional approval of an amendment to a key appropriations bill calling for the National … Read more

“Aldrich Ames Speaks Out on Polygraph Testing”

Steven Aftergood reports in today’s edition of the electronic newsletter Secrecy News: ALDRICH AMES SPEAKS OUT ON POLYGRAPH TESTING “The U.S. is, so far as I know, the only nation which places such extensive reliance on the polygraph…. It has gotten us into a lot of trouble.” That is the verdict of convicted spy Aldrich … Read more