Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
Last month, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem boasted to broadcaster Tim Pool, “We’re polygraphing everybody!” This month, in an article titled “Inside Kristi Noem’s Polygraph Operation,” Michelle Hackman and Tarini Parti report for the Wall Street Journal that Noem’s polygraph interrogations often concern the leak of information that is not classified. Excerpt: WASHINGTON—In …
Hugo Lowell reports for the Guardian in a 9 May 2025 article titled, “White House to take choice of Pentagon chief of staff out of Hegseth’s hands” that the White House Office of Presidential Personnel has forbidden Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth from making Ricky Buria, whom Hegseth designated in April 2025 as a “Senior …
Veteran journalist Jeff Stein comments on the Trump Administration’s efforts to identify employees who are speaking with journalists without authorization in a paywalled Substack post titled, “Trump & Co’s Polygraph Pandemonium.” Excerpt: Decades ago, a wise and long serving Justice Department inspector general remarked to me that leak investigations were “a fool’s errand.” By that …
Podcaster Jack Hopkins has published on Substack a thoughtful and well-researched essay on polygraph screening titled, “Kash Patel’s Deception: Stop Believing Polygraphs-Science Unmasks the Real Lies.” Excerpt: Hypocrisy isn’t partisan. It’s universal. It’s a human being thing, not political. Wherever you find human beings…you’ll find examples of hypocrisy. And you know what else is universal? The bullshit in …
Ellen Nakashima and Hannah Natanson report for the Washington Post in an article titled, “FBI, national security agencies using polygraphs for ‘leak’ hunts.” Excerpt: National security agencies across the Trump administration are ramping up investigations into alleged leaks to the news media, in some cases using polygraph tests that current and former officials say are …
Nancy A. Youssef, Alexander Ward, and Vera Bergengruen report for the Wall Street Journal in a 24 April 2025 article titled, “Polygraph Threats, Leaks and Infighting: The Chaos Inside Hegseth’s Pentagon.” Excerpt: WASHINGTON—Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was rattled. Word had leaked that he was planning a classified briefing for Elon Musk on China, a revelation …
In a video clip posted to X on Wednesday, 23 April 2025, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem boasted to broadcaster Tim Pool, “we’re polygraphing everybody!” A transcript of their conversation prepared by AntiPolygraph.org follows: Noem: I will tell you, one thing in Homeland Security that we’ve been doing [laughs] is we’re polygraphing everybody! …
Michael Evans of the London Times reports in a paywalled article titled “Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon descends into fear, loathing and lie detectors.” Excerpt: Pentagon officials are living “in fear” of being forced to take polygraph tests to prove they are not leaking sensitive information to the media. An email warning of the potential use of …
Gabe Cohen reports for CNN in a 12 April 2025 article titled, “Dozens of DHS staffers, including top FEMA officials, given lie detector tests over alleged leaks.” Excerpt: The Department of Homeland Security has administered lie detector tests to about 50 staffers in recent weeks, including FEMA’s acting administrator and roughly a dozen officials at …
Thomas Frank reports for Politico that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) subjected Cameron Hamilton, the acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to a polygraph “test” in connection with a leak investigation. In this instance, it appears that no information that could credibly be construed to be properly classified had in fact …