In this commentary, WorldNetDaily staff writer Jon E. Dougherty argues for polygraph screening at FBI. Excerpt: Is it just me, or does the federal government get more arrogant by the year? A report by CBS News last week demonstrates well the government’s worsening “us versus them” mentality. It seems that FBI agents are ticked off … Read more
On CBS Evening News, correspondent Jim Stewart reported on opposition to polygraph screening within the FBI. Excerpt from story on CBS News website: (CBS) CBS News has learned that FBI Director Louis Freeh is encountering stiff resistance to a plan to require widespread polygraph testing within the bureau in an effort to root out spies. … Read more
In this CNSNews.com commentary, retired FBI agent Gary Aldrich cautions against reliance on polygraphy. Excerpt: We must be more careful when we set about to protect our national security. Our children are counting on us to make good decisions, and sometimes those decisions call for tough solutions – not some hocus-pocus quick-fix remedy to get … Read more
In today’s edition of All Things Considered, Barbara Bradley of National Public Radio reports on FBI polygraph policy. You will need RealPlayer to listen to the segment, linked in the excerpt below: FBI & Polygraphs — NPR’s Barbara Bradley reports that the recent FBI spy scandal has caused the agency to consider testing its employees … Read more
Washington Post staff writer Dan Eggen reports on FBI polygraph policy. Excerpt: It seemed like a routine polygraph screening. Mark Mallah and his colleagues, members of an FBI counterintelligence unit in New York, were hooked up to lie detector machines and quizzed about drug use, contacts with foreigners and other subjects deemed vital to their … Read more
Philip Shenon, in a New York Times article entitled, “Public Lives: A Former Insider to Investigate the Investigators,” discusses among other things, Judge William H. Webster’s thoughts on expanding polygraph screening in the FBI. Excerpt: WASHINGTON — When he was the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, William H. Webster figured that if he … Read more
n his electronic newsletter, Secrecy News, Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy reports: ASHCROFT ON POLYGRAPH TESTING Attorney General John Ashcroft gave a qualified endorsement to polygraph testing at the FBI at a press conference yesterday. “It’s my understanding that there have been cases in the past that polygraphing … Read more
In an article entitled “FBI to Expand Polygraph Testing After Spy Case,” Reuters correspondent James Vicini notes that Attorney General John Ashcroft said in a press conference that he knows polygraph screening “tests” to have a 15% false positive rate. (Ashcroft’s actual words were, “The polygraph is said to have about 15 percent false positives…”) … Read more
Confusing “more polygraphs” with “greater security,” ABC News reports that the FBI has decided to expand polygraph screening. Excerpt: W A S H I N G T O N, March 1 — FBI Director Louie Freeh is planning new measures to improve internal security in the wake of the Hanssen spy probe — including random … Read more
This Christian Science Monitor editorial advocates increased reliance on polygraph screening by the FBI. Excerpt: We will find spies and we will prosecute them,” said President Bush at his first press conference last week. But catching a spy red-handed, as the FBI apparently did with agent Robert Hanssen this month, is like trying to dazzle … Read more