Ethics Complaint Filed Against Polygrapher Edward I. Gelb of Los Angeles

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AntiPolygraph.org’s George Maschke has lodged a formal complaint against celebrity polygrapher Ed Gelb (a past president of the American Polygraph Association) with the Association’s Ethics & Grievance Committee for fraudulently passing himself off as a Ph.D. (Download letter of complaint.) To discuss this issue, see Ethics Complaint Against Edward I. Gelb on the AntiPolygraph.org message … Read more

Long Beach P.D. Chief Batts Backed Contract with Company Headed by Phony Ph.D. Ed Gelb

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Chief of Police Anthony W. Batts wrote a letter to the Long Beach, California mayor and city council recommending approval of a $150,000 one-year contract with Intercept, Inc., the polygraph services company headed by phony Ph.D. Edward I. Gelb. The letter, dated 2 May 2006, the same day the council met to consider the item, … Read more

Lie Detector Producer Jon M. Crowley Responds to AntiPolygraph.org

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On Friday, 5 May 2006, veteran newsman Kevin Broderick mentioned this blog’s article, Phony Ph.D. Ed Gelb Gets $150,000 Long Beach Contract in his influential LA Observed blog: Lying in Long Beach: The website AntiPolygraph.org says the city of Long Beach has hired Intercept, Inc., a Los Angeles company “headed by celebrity polygrapher Ed Gelb, … Read more

Polygraph-Beating FBI Spy Leandro Aragoncillo Pleads Guilty

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CNN reports that former vice-presidential aide and FBI intelligence analyst Leandro Aragoncillo has admitted to espionage in a plea agreement announced yesterday. Aragoncillo passed a pre-employment polygraph examination for the FBI that included a question about unauthorized disclosure of classified information. Aragoncillo is hardly the first spy to beat the polygraph. Others include:

  1. Ignatz Theodor Griebl
  2. Karel Frantisek Koecher
  3. Larry Wu-tai Chin
  4. Aldrich Hazen Ames
  5. Ana Belen Montes
  6. Jiri Pasovsky

For discussion of the Aragoncillo spy case, see FBI Spy Leandro Aragoncillo Passed Polygraph on the AntiPolygraph.org message board. The following is the full text of a U.S. Department of Justice press release on the Aragoncillo plea deal:

05-04-06 — Aragoncillo, Leandro — Guilty Plea — News Release

Former Marine and FBI Analyst Pleads Guilty to Espionage; Admits Transferring Classified Information to Assist in Overthrow of Philippines Government

NEWARK, N.J. – A former Marine who worked at times under two administrations in the Office of the Vice President of the United States pleaded guilty today to espionage and other charges, admitting that he took and transferred classified information, including national defense documents, to senior political and government officials of the Republic of the Philippines in an attempt to destabilize and overthrow that country’s government, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

Leandro Aragoncillo, 47, admitted that he regularly transferred to his Philippine contacts national security documents classified as Secret, and that the information could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation. He also admitted traveling to the Philippines in January 2001 to meet his co-conspirators, including during a visit to the Malacanang Palace, the official residence of the president of the Philippines.

Aragoncillo also admitted that some of the classified information he removed from of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) between approximately October 2000 and February 2002 included information marked Top Secret that related to terrorist threats to United States government interests in the Republic of the Philippines (ROP).

Aragoncillo, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in the Philippines and most recently of Woodbury, N.J., was an FBI intelligence analyst at Fort Monmouth, N.J. at the time of his arrest on Sept. 10, 2005. He admitted today that his espionage activity continued during his time as an FBI analyst.

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Phony Ph.D. Ed Gelb Gets $150,000 Long Beach Contract

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The Long Beach, California Press-Telegram reports that the city council has voted to spend $150,000 for polygraph services from Intercept, Inc., a Los Angeles-based company headed by celebrity polygrapher Ed Gelb, who fraudulently passes himself off as a Ph.D. Guests who appeared on Gelb’s television show, Lie Detector, have reported to AntiPolygraph.org that the “tests” … Read more

Polygraph Exams Continue in Greensboro

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Greensboro, North Carolina News & Record staff writer Eric Swensen provides an update on the polygraphing of the city council and mayor. Some of those polygraphed aren’t saying how they fared on the box. Excerpt: GREENSBORO — Exam week will come to an end today with polygraph tests of three more City Council members. But … Read more

2nd Circuit Approves Post-Release Use of Polygraph

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Mike Hamblett writes for the New York Law Journal in an article carried by Law.com:

2nd Circuit Approves Post-Release Use of Polygraph

Mark Hamblett
New York Law Journal
05-04-2006
Polygraph examinations for defendants being monitored by probation officials can be used to determine compliance with the terms of their supervised release, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.

Deciding the issue for the first time, the circuit said a polygraph meets the test for federal sentencing policy — that the “conditions of supervised release impose no greater restraint than reasonably necessary to promote sentencing goals.”

In United States v. Johnson, 04-4992, the court also found that the use of a polygraph on a convicted sex offender does not violate the Fifth Amendment right against self-discrimination.

Judges Dennis Jacobs, Jose Cabranes and Robert Sack ruled for the circuit, with Judge Jacobs writing for the panel.

The appeal was filed by Jeffrey A. Johnson, a convicted sex offender who was challenging the terms of his supervised release imposed by Northern District of New York Judge Thomas McAvoy.

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Polygraphing of Greensboro City Council Begins

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Greensboro, North Carolina News & Record staff writer Eric Swensen reports on the first day of polygraph “testing” of the city council:

Polygraphs off to unusual start

By Eric Swensen
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO — One council member says she passed, one wouldn’t say how he fared, and the mayor blamed the newspaper as the City Council began taking polygraph exams regarding the leak of an investigative report to the News & Record.

The council members who agreed to take the tests have said their intent has been to make a public statement about their innocence in the leak of the police department report. One member also said the tests would help restore the city manager’s trust in the council.

But the day got off to an inauspicious start. Media covering the proceedings were told the test site had been changed but weren’t told where. The exams eventually ended up where they started — in the executive offices at the Melvin Municipal Office Building.

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New lie detection technology too much like scientific mind reading, ethicist says

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Stanford News Service intern Emily Saarman reports on law professor and ethicist Henry T. “Hank” Greely‘s concerns about the marketing fMRI-based lie detection without adequate study and peer-review:

New lie detection technology too much like scientific mind reading, ethicist says

Companies plan to begin selling fMRI services by end of year, but, with no regulation, utility of technique need not be proved

BY EMILY SAARMAN

For many, the phrase “lie detection” probably brings to mind an image of a polygraph machine and an intimidating movie-style interrogation, possibly with a subject who could expertly “beat the polygraph.” But ethicist and law Professor Hank Greely said this image is about to change.

Recent advances in neuroscience promise to bring lie detection technology far beyond the notoriously unreliable polygraph and into a realm that Greely said bears eerie resemblance to scientific mind reading.

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