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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Melissa Mahle on CIA Use of Polygraphs

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In a blog entry titled “Leakscape,” retired CIA officer Melissa Mahle discusses, among other things, the unreliability of the polygraph: The polygraph is a very blunt instrument and not accurate. If an officer registers any discomfort on a question, the polygrapher will hone in on the issue. After being asked the same question 100 times, … Read more

Polygraph Results Often in Question: CIA, FBI Defend Test’s Use in Probes

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Today’s lead story in the Washington Post by staff writers Dan Eggen and Shankar Vedantam takes a critical look at expanding governmental reliance on lie detectors. The article is cited here in full, interspersed with commentary. A discussion of this article is also available on the AntiPolygraph.org message board here. Polygraph Results Often in Question … Read more

The Tennesean Supports State Ban on Polygraphing Rape Victims

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In an editorial titled, “Don’t accuse rape victims,” The Tennesean voices it support for legislation that would outlaw the wrongheaded police practice of requiring those who report having been the victims of rape to submit to a lie detector “test” before investigating the complaint: Monday, 05/01/06 Don’t accuse rape victims A rape victim shouldn’t be … Read more

Can We Trust Polygraphs?

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Former CIA and State Department analyst and frequent news commentator Larry Johnson raises the question and forwards a letter from AntiPolygraph.org’s George Maschke. This article is also posted on Johnson’s blog, No Quarter.

Greensboro Polygraph Follies Update

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Polygraph “testing” of eight of nine Greensboro City Council members appears set to begin this week in an ostensible attempt to discover who amongst them provided an investigative report on the city’s former police chief to the local News & Record newspaper. To date, none of the city council members have responded to George Maschke’s e-mail cautioning them about polygraphy’s lack of scientific basis, inherent bias against the truthful, and vulnerability to simple countermeasures.

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Polygraphs Target Leak Cases

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Andrew Zajac of the Chicago Tribune reports on the CIA’s reliance on the polygraph in its efforts to detect and deter unauthorized truth-telling. This feature article is cited in its entirety:

Polygraphs target leak cases

U.S. intelligence, FBI use tool to police their ranks, but some say it is vulnerable to abuse

By Andrew Zajac
Washington Bureau

April 29, 2006

WASHINGTON — When CIA officials sought to ferret out who leaked secrets to a journalist, they quickly turned to a polygraph test to winnow the pool of likely suspects, including longtime analyst Mary McCarthy.

The outcome of McCarthy’s test is not known, and her lawyer, Ty Cobb, declined to comment. But McCarthy, who had announced plans to retire, acknowledged unauthorized contacts with reporters, according to the CIA, which fired her last week.

Long used in criminal inquiries, pre-employment screening and security investigations, polygraph testing has assumed a new importance in secrecy-obsessed Washington, particularly after leaks from the CIA and the National Security Agency led to headline-grabbing news stories late last year.

The prospect of being subject to a polygraph exam, which can be an exceedingly unpleasant process, is among the factors would-be leakers and whistle-blowers now must weigh when deciding whether to reach out to reporters if they can’t find a receptive audience elsewhere, those familiar with the workings of Washington say.

“The Justice Department doesn’t want to hear it. The [congressional] oversight committees don’t want to hear it. So you have to decide if you want to go to the press, [but] because of the pressure of the polygraph, that’s not an easy thing to overcome,” said a retired CIA officer. “It’s an ugly, intrusive weapon.”

A CIA spokesperson said that agency’s polygraph program “operates under strict guidelines with standardized policies and procedures.”

Even advocates of using polygraph tests acknowledge that they can be rigged to “flunk” subjects, that the technology is hardly foolproof and that the results can be open to interpretation.

Most notoriously, former CIA agent Aldrich Ames, whose sale of secrets to the Soviet Union led to the deaths of at least 10 people, passed at least two polygraph tests while aiding the Soviets.

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