Brendan I. Koerner writes for The Village Voice. Excerpt: Q: I’ve been asked by a potential employer to take a lie-detector test. There was a fair amount of pot smoking in my distant past, and I’m worried it’ll disqualify me from the job, which I desperately need. Aren’t there ways to beat the machine? Before … Read more
New York Times columnist William Safire comments on polygraphy, concluding: Because professional spies are trained to defeat the device; because pathological liars do not cause its needles to spike; and because our counterspies relax when a potential suspect “passes” — the system breeds the opposite of security. Here’s how I learned about that. In 1981 … Read more
Freelance writer Roger Calip profiles West Hartford, CT police polygrapher Paul Melanson in this puff piece for the The Hartford Courant. Excerpt: West Hartford Police Sgt. Paul Melanson’s detective abilities cover a wide spectrum. His skills range from the step-by-step deduction required for a field investigation of a kidnapping or homicide to the careful analysis … Read more
New York Times correspondent David Rohde, in an article titled, “In 2 Abandoned Kabul Houses, Some Hints of Al Qaeda Presence,” reports that documents seized in two Kabul houses formerly used by members of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda organization include Arabic language instructions on how to pass lie detector tests. With the FBI making … Read more
So says Modesto Bee staff writer John Gorenfeld in an article thus titled. Clearly, Gorenfeld has not yet discovered “the lie behind the lie detector” (and the polygraphers with whom he spoke didn’t clue him in). Excerpt: Just how much does Rep. Gary Condit know about the disappearance of Chandra Levy, the Modesto woman last … Read more
Diana Ray reports in the 2-9 June 2001 issue of Insight magazine. Excerpt: The FBI is requiring employees to undergo increased polygraph testing as a result of security lapses, but cool liars are able to evade detection by the simple machines. Polygraph testing did not keep Aldrich H. Ames from selling CIA secrets to the … Read more