Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
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 …
Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Secrecy in Government Project reports in today’s Secrecy News electronic newsletter: ANNUAL POLYGRAPH REPORT PUBLISHED The Department of Defense this week released its Annual Polygraph Report for 2001, reaffirming the Department’s commitment to polygraph testing as an instrument of counterintelligence and criminal investigations as well as for …
The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USD (AT&L)) and Combating Terrorism Technology Support Office, Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) are soliciting proposals for a lie detection technology for screening travelers. The following is an excerpt from a TSWG Broad Agency Announcement dated 23 October 2001 (BAA#02-Q-4655): R-111 Ports of Entry Passenger …
Senate Report 107-63 “authorizing appropriations for fiscal year 2002 for intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government, the Community Management Account of the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for other purposes” includes a directive to the FBI, CIA, and DoD to report on polygraph …
Steven Aftergood reports in today’s edition of the electronic newsletter Secrecy News: A BOOM IN POLYGRAPH STUDIES Now that Congress has drastically expanded the number of national security personnel who are subject to polygraph testing, the government is belatedly initiating new studies to test the validity of the polygraph. The Department of Energy will release …
In an article entitled “Government Facing Charges of Racism,” San Jose Mercury News correspondent Lenny Savino reports on five cases of alleged ethnic profiling by FBI, CIA, and DoD counterintelligence officials. Polygraphy figures prominently in four out of five of the cases discussed. For more on the case of David Tenenbaum, which features prominently in …
In his electronic newsletter, Secrecy News, Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy reports on Department of Defense plans to expand reliance on polygraphy. DoD’s FY 1999 polygraph report states: In an effort to eliminate or reduce the number of unauthorized disclosures of classified information to the media, we plan …