Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
Marisa Taylor of McClatchy Newspapers reports that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is drafting a new national policy on polygraph screening. Excerpt: WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is drawing up a new national polygraph policy in the wake of allegations that federal agencies are pushing legal and ethical limits during screenings of job …
McClatchy Newspapers investigative reporter Marisa Taylor has published a new series of well-researched articles on federal polygraph screening programs: Feds expand polygraph screening, often seeking intimate facts As polygraph screening flourishes, critics say oversight abandoned Federal polygraph programs are secret even to researchers U.S. polygraphers questioned accuracy of tests on detainees overseas Apart from numerous …
In 2010, Paul Ceglia of Wellsville, New York filed a lawsuit against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, claiming that a 2003 contract entitled him to half of Zuckerberg’s interest in the company. Ceglia passed a polygraph “test” administered on 11 June 2010 by Michael Pliszka, a retired law enforcement officer and member of the American Polygraph …
Caleb Beames reports for television station KTRE on the case of a probationer in Texas who has been sentenced to eight years in prison, largely on the ground that she failed three polygraph screening interrogations. Such judicial reliance on polygraph outcomes is entirely inappropriate, because polygraphy has no scientific basis: LUFKIN, TX (KTRE) – A …
U.S. News & World Report staff writer Elizabeth Flock spoke with NSA whistleblower Russ Tice about the NSA’s polygraph practices, including how to beat the polygraph. AntiPolygraph.org co-founder George Maschke was also interviewed for this article.
In a new article about malfeasance at the National Reconnaissance Office, McClatchy correspondent Marisa Taylor reports on the NRO’s reaction to her recent reporting based on interviews with whistleblowers from the intelligence agency’s polygraph unit. Excerpt: After McClatchy published stories raising questions about the National Reconnaissance Office’s polygraph program in July based on whistleblower allegations, …
Professor of psychology Chris French writes for the Guardian on why mandatory polygraph screening of convicted sex offenders is a bad public policy choice. Excerpt: It is clear that offenders only have to spend five minutes on Google to realise that experts generally agree that polygraph testing is in fact not a reliable technique for …
San Diego City Beat staff writer David Maass reports on the case of 10 translators formerly employed by Metropolitan Interpreters and Translators, a company that provides services to the Drug Enforcement Agency among other federal agencies. The translators were terminated for either failing, having inconclusive results on, or refusing to submit to, polygraph interrogations conducted …
In “The Awkward Truth About Lie Detectors,” Tom Chivers of The Telegraph comments on the growing use of lie detectors to screen sex offenders in the United Kingdom. The money quote: Polygraphy relies on suspects believing that lie detectors work, which in turn relies on them not knowing how to use Google (or reading this article).
In a follow-up to her excellent investigative series on polygraph practices within the National Reconnaissance Office, McClatchy reporter Marisa Taylor writes that Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) thinks that the DoD inspector general should investigate whether NRO is in compliance with DoD polygraph regulations: WASHINGTON — Pentagon officials are scrambling to look into allegations of abusive …