Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
Charles P. Pierce writes on pre-employment polygraph screening in the cover story of the 3 August 2003 edition of the Boston Globe Magazine. Excerpt: WAS HE SWEATING? Of course he was sweating. But he didn’t want to be sweating, and he didn’t want his heart to race this way, because he knew what that did …
Andrea Widener reports for the Contra Costa County Times. Excerpt: Last fall, a panel of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences found that polygraph tests are unproven, and perhaps even dangerous, as a tool to search for potential spies at the nation’s nuclear weapons labs. Its measures of heart rate, breathing and sweaty palms are …
Dr. Alan P. Zelicoff comments on polygraph screening in this Washington Post op-ed piece. Excerpt: In 1999, in the midst of alleged leaks of nuclear weapons information from his department’s national laboratories, the secretary of energy, Bill Richardson, set out to show that he could be “tough” on national security matters. He sought congressional funding …
The Daily Northwestern published the following letter by George Maschke in response to Sheila Burt’s 16 May 2003 article, “CIA recruiters more Moneypenny than Bond”: CIA recruiter Elizabeth was less than candid when she told Northwestern students that “those who tell the truth have nothing to worry about” regarding the polygraph. The National Academy of …
Frank Munger reports for the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Excerpt: OAK RIDGE – It’s a real-life variation of the game truth or consequences. The Department of Energy figures the potential consequences of a security breach in the nuclear weapons program are so grave that extraordinary precautions must be taken. That includes truth testing for key employees. Despite …
Sheila Burt reports for the Daily Northwestern on the campus visit of two CIA recruiters, Marcus and Elizabeth, in an article titled, “CIA recruiters more Moneypenny than Bond.” Excerpt: …applicants must go through a rather extensive interview process before becoming official CIA agents. The process includes a background check, a lie detector test and a …
Chris Ingalls reports for KING5.com. Excerpt: SEATTLE – The polygraph promises to find the answer and that’s why it is widely used in Washington state to screen potential employees for high-security jobs. But there are new doubts about whether lie detectors really work. In today’s security-conscious environment, much of the tax money is used to …
Washington Post staff writer Susan Schmidt reports in an article titled, “Physicist’s Case Examined for Link to Alleged Spy.” Excerpt: FBI inspectors are now poring over the activities of [former Supervisory Special Agent James J.] Smith’s squad. According to sources with knowledge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, two other agents who worked with the …
Davis Enterprise staff writer Elisabeth Sherwin reports in an article titled, “Sheriff Prieto pushes high standards.” Excerpt: [Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto] said 15 people interviewed recently to become deputy sheriffs. As part of the screening process, candidates are routinely given polygraph tests. Out of the 15 who took the test, only four passed and …
Bob Park of the American Physical Society comments on Department of Energy polygraph policy in his weekly What’s New column: The National Academy of Sciences completed its review of scientific evidence on the polygraph (WN 15 Dec 00). The NAS report, “The Polygraph and Lie Detection” (NAS Press, 2003), found polygraph tests to be unacceptable …