Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy comments in his Secrecy News e-mail publication: THE POLYGRAPH VS. NATIONAL SECURITY As a technology for counterintelligence security screening, the polygraph has been a spectacular failure. It is hard to recall the last time that polygraph screening uncovered an actual spy, and easy …
Frank Munger reports for the Knoxville News Sentinel: OAK RIDGE – The detection of deception. A little-known research group in Oak Ridge is developing an alternative to polygraphs, using subtle temperature changes on a person’s face to tell if he or she is lying. Early results are promising. “We believe this technology that we have …
The Chicago Tribune reports in an article titled, “CEO pleads guilty to export charge”: The chief executive officer of a suburban manufacturer and the company itself pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in Chicago to trying to export polygraph machines to China without a license. Lavern Miller, 79, the CEO and chairman of Stoelting Co. …
Mary Flood reports for the Houston Chronicle, providing details of indicted ex-Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling’s polygraph “test”: Jeff Skilling’s lawyers proudly told a mass of media Thursday morning that the ex-CEO had passed a lie detector test but prosecutors indicted him anyway. Lawyers Bruce Hiler and Daniel Petrocelli later said they even told prosecutors the …
CNN.com reports in an article titled, “Skilling: two tales of one man” that the indicted former CEO of the company whose name has become synonymous with corporate fraud passed a lie detector “test.” Excerpt: Daniel Petrocelli, Skilling’s lawyer, accused the government of making his client a “scapegoat,” adding Skilling had done “nothing wrong.” Speaking to …
Linda Slobodian reports for the Calgary Herald: An investigation is underway to determine if candidates for Calgary Fire Department jobs are being asked — in mandatory polygraph tests — if they have ever had sex with cows or dogs, the city’s fire chief has confirmed. However, with the investigation barely underway, Wayne Morris has dismissed …
False intelligence information provided by an Iraqi informant that Iraq possessed mobile biological warfare laboratories was believed in part because the source had passed a polygraph “test.” The bogus information was used by the Bush Administration in making the case for war, and was cited by Secretary of State Colin Powell in a pre-war speech …
L. Roberson reports for the central Ohio Chillicothe Gazette: It’s his job to distinguish fact from fiction. Forget the darting eyes or nervous twitch — Tony Wheaton has another way to determine when a suspect is lying. He straps them to a machine and charts each time their heart skips a beat. After more than …
This article by Albuquerque Tribune correspondent Aubrey Hovey includes a discussion of the Albuquerque Police Department’s policy of polygraphing applicants in an attempt to ascertain their truthfulness with regard to past drug use. Excerpt: A marijuana-induced “buzz” is floating around the Albuquerque Police Department. Past drug use by potential police recruits has caused a rift …
Niles Lathem reports for the New York Post. This short article is cited here in full: December 20, 2003 — WASHINGTON – Army counterintelligence agents are forcing many Iraqi employees of the U.S.-led civilian authority in Baghdad to submit to polygraph tests after a list of Saddam Hussein’s spies was discovered in his briefcase, The …