Washington Post staff writer Susan Schmidt reports in an article titled, “Physicist’s Case Examined for Link to Alleged Spy.” Excerpt: FBI inspectors are now poring over the activities of [former Supervisory Special Agent James J.] Smith’s squad. According to sources with knowledge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, two other agents who worked with the … Read more
Davis Enterprise staff writer Elisabeth Sherwin reports in an article titled, “Sheriff Prieto pushes high standards.” Excerpt: [Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto] said 15 people interviewed recently to become deputy sheriffs. As part of the screening process, candidates are routinely given polygraph tests. Out of the 15 who took the test, only four passed and … Read more
On Wednesday, 7 May 2003, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted former FBI supervisory special agent James J. Smith over his handling of confidential informant and accused Chinese double agent Katrina M. Leung. The indictment alleges Smith failed to report Leung’s refusal in 1991 to submit to a polygraph examination and instead represented … Read more
Jeff Daniel reports for the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch. Excerpt: Now that the Modesto, Calif., case involving Laci Peterson has evolved into the latest high-profile murder turned media spectacle, one of the questions surrounding defendant/husband Scott Peterson will likely be this: Why hasn’t he taken a lie detector test to back up that “not guilty” plea? … Read more
Los Angeles Times staff writers Greg Krikorian and Scott Glover report. Excerpt: Years before Katrina Leung’s arrest for allegedly obtaining secret documents for China, officials at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., suggested that she submit to a polygraph test because of questions about her reliability, according to federal law enforcement officials. But Leung, who allegedly … Read more
Mark Dadigan reports for the Vero Beach Press Journal. Excerpt: The pace of your heartbeats quickens, your breaths deepen and beads of sweat slide down your skin. According to some law-enforcement circles, you’ve probably just lied. Since the 1930s, polygraphs, or lie-detector tests, which theoretically link physiological changes to honesty, have been used as investigative … Read more
Bob Park of the American Physical Society comments on Department of Energy polygraph policy in his weekly What’s New column: The National Academy of Sciences completed its review of scientific evidence on the polygraph (WN 15 Dec 00). The NAS report, “The Polygraph and Lie Detection” (NAS Press, 2003), found polygraph tests to be unacceptable … Read more
The Albuquerque Tribune comments on the Energy Department’s decision to ignore the conclusions of the National Academy of Sciences regarding polygraph screening. Excerpt: It’s like the sequel to a goofy movie: “DOE – Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest.” Sometimes – even giving it the vast benefit of the doubt – the U.S. Department of Energy is infuriating … Read more
Lisa Friedman of the Tri-Valley Herald Washington Bureau reports. Excerpt: WASHINGTON — Federal lawmakers and lab weapons scientists said Tuesday they are disappointed with Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham for disregarding an 18-month, $800,000 study by the nation’s top scientists that found polygraph testing does not work. “It shows how bankrupt they are,” said Livermore thermonuclear … Read more
AntiPolygraph.org has learned that William “Bill” Cleveland, Jr., a retired FBI counterintelligence agent who has admitted to having had a longterm sexual relationship with FBI informant and suspected Chinese double agent Katrina M. Leung, passed a Department of Energy (DOE) counterintelligence-scope polygraph examination. The “Test for Espionage and Sabotage” polygraph format used by DOE includes … Read more