Washington Post staff writer Walter Pincus, in an article entitled, “For Government, Wen Ho Lee Mystery Deepens” writes that efforts to recover from a New Mexico dump the data tapes that Dr. Lee allegedly threw in a trash bin have been fruitless. Pincus observes: Under the terms of Lee’s plea agreement, the 10 days of … Read more
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 … Read more
Jennifer McKee of the Albuquerque Journal writes in part: The Department of Energy intends to sink almost a million dollars into an upcoming study to determine – once and for all – how well widespread lie detector tests work in preventing espionage. “While we must take the utmost precaution in protecting the nation’s secrets with … Read more
A press release from Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). Excerpt: Bingaman first suggested a comprehensive review of the science behind polygraphs last year when he opposed DOE’s plans for expanded polygraph testing of its employees. In October 1999, Bingaman proposed and won Congressional approval of an amendment to a key appropriations bill calling for the National … Read more
Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists discusses the Department of Energy’s polygraph policy in Science magazine’s Essays on Science and Society section.
Baltimore Sun Journal staff writer Michael Stroh asks, “Are polygraph tests lying to us?”
Jennifer McKee of the Albuquerque Tribune writes in part: More than 2,000 Los Alamos National Laboratory employees may have to take lie-detector tests as part of an anti-spying program included in the Defense Authorization Bill signed into law this week. The program, which expands polygraph tests to as many 20,000 employees throughout the Department of … Read more
In his statement regarding his signing of H.R. 4205, the “Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001,” Mr. Clinton writes: …I am deeply disappointed that the Congress has taken upon itself to set greatly increased polygraph requirements that are unrealistic in scope, impractical in execution, and that would be strongly counterproductive … Read more
Walter Pincus and Vernon Loeb of the Washington Post report that the FBI does not believe that the 1995 Chinese defector whose information led to the spy hunt at the national laboratories was a double agent, as the CIA concluded. It appears that the CIA believed the defector to be a double agent primarily (if … Read more
Walter Pincus of the Washington Post reports: Rejecting pleas from Energy Department officials, Congress has approved a provision that will require polygraphs for 5,000 additional employees of the department’s nuclear weapons complex, raising to near 20,000 the overall number that will be tested. The new language, part of the fiscal 2001 defense authorization bill that … Read more