Atomic Bombs and Lie Detectors
Historian Ken Alder discusses the nexus between America’s atomic weapons program and the lie detector in “America’s Two Gadgets: Of Bombs and Polygraphs,” Isis, 2007, 98:124-137.
AP Report on Research at Defense Academy for Credibility Assessment
In “DoD researches high-tech ways to find liars,” published on 28 April 2007 among in the Army Times, among other places, Associated Press reporter Susanne M. Schafer writes on current research at the Defense Academy for Credibility Research (DACA, the former Department of Defense Polygraph Institute): FORT JACKSON, S.C. — An eerie image of a …
Daytona Beach News-Journal Discredits Voice Stress Analysis
In a 28 April 2007 editorial cryptically titled, “Wired Policing Stresses Voices, More,” the Daytona Beach News-Journal skewers local law enforcement agencies’ reliance on voice stress analyzers: As the urban legend goes, police interrogating a suspect put a colander on the suspect’s head, run wires from the colander to a copy machine, make a meaningless …
Jack Trimarco on KNX 1070 News Radio, Los Angeles
On Tuesday, 10 April 2007, polygraph examiner Jack Trimarco was a guest on Los Angeles radio station KNX 1070’s “Money 101 with Bob McCormick” program. A half-hour, 27 mb MP3 podcast is available for download. Mr. Trimarco uttered a glaring falsehood about human physiology that stands in need of correction. About seven minutes into the …
If Lie Detectors Are So Great, Why Not Use Them on Politicians?
Writer Ian Williams raises the question in “The New Salem Witch Trials,” a stinging commentary on the British government’s harebrained scheme to use voice stress analysis to assess the truthfulness of applicants for social welfare benefits.
Ken Alder on the Bat Segundo Show
History professor Ken Alder, author of The Lie Detectors: The History of an American Obsession, was interviewed for episode 108 of Bat Segundo Show, an Internet podcast, which may be downloaded as a 30 mb MP3 file. A serious interview follows the (rather corny) comic introduction.
Faux Ph.D. Ed Gelb Polygraphs Frederic von Anhalt for Inside Edition
Following hard on the heels of NBC Dateline’s shameful use of the lie detector as a ratings gimmick, syndicated television news program Inside Edition will today feature a polygraph “test” of Zsa Zsa Gabor’s husband, Frederic von Anhalt, regarding his claim that he might be the father of the late Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter, Dannielynn. …
NBC Dateline Touts Polygraph “Test” of Diane Zamora
[Updated Monday, 9 April 2007] In a journalistic nadir, NBC Dateline on Sunday, 8 April 2007 presented a story, “Diane Zamora: ‘I’m Not a Killer,’” prominently featuring the results of a polygraph “test” that Dateline arranged for Zamora, a former U.S. Naval Academy midshipman who is serving a life sentence for murder in a Texas …
Former CIA Polygrapher John Sullivan Files Suit Against the Agency
Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Secrecy in Government Project reports in his Secrecy News electronic newsletter and blog: A former polygrapher for the Central Intelligence Agency has filed a lawsuit (pdf) alleging that the Agency unlawfully retaliated against him for publishing a critical account of CIA polygraph programs. John Sullivan, author of …
Bill Softky Asks, “Will There Ever Be a Real ‘Lie Detector?'”
Software engineer Bill Softky ponders the question in on-line British technology publication, The Register in his article, “Will There Ever Be a Real ‘Lie Detector?’” Softky begins by dispensing with the delusion that the polygraph can detect lies: Lie detectors figure prominently in the sauciest dramas, like espionage and murder, but they deeply polarize opinion. …