Rich Chang reports for the Taipei Times. Excerpt: All intelligence officials will be subjected to polygraph tests in future in a bid to root out spies, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) announced yesterday. Legislators said they support the ministry’s policy, but that they hoped the ministry would take human rights into consideration when implementing … Read more
Maggie Shepard reports for the Albuquerque Tribune: Anyone who wants to work in the Metropolitan Forensic Center evidence room will have to take a polygraph test, Albuquerque’s police chief said. With an investigation having determined that $58,000 went missing from the evidence lockup, the Albuquerque Police Department is trying to minimize the chance that anyone … Read more
Mike Nartker of Global Security Newswire reports in this article published by GovExec.com. Excerpt: The Energy Department is considering administering random polygraph tests to some personnel as part of new counterintelligence regulations proposed this month. Those who could be subject to the random tests include personnel with access to classified nuclear weapons-related information, according to … Read more
The Associated Press reports in this article published by the Albuquerque Journal: LOS ALAMOS — The U.S. Department of Energy has proposed reducing the number of employees subject to lie detector tests, but opponents of the tests say the department misconstrued National Academy of Sciences findings on their use. The revised rule would allow random … Read more
Roger Snodgrass of the Los Alamos Monitor reports on the Department of Energy’s proposed changes to its polygraph rule. The Department of Energy will significantly reduce the number of individuals now subject to lie detectors, according to a revision of the proposed rule published Friday. Random use of polygraph tests will take place, however, although … Read more
The following Reuters AlertNet report is cited here in full: GUATEMALA CITY, June 25 (Reuters) – Every member of the police force in Guatemala will be subjected to lie detector tests and background checks after police were found running criminal gangs, President Oscar Berger said on Friday. Berger said it would take four months to … Read more
This short BBC News article is cited here in full: A lie detector test carried out on employees at Colombia’s Prosecutor General’s office has produced an embarrassing 20% failure rate. The FBI-administered test was designed to root out corruption, including involvement in drugs trafficking or guerrilla and paramilitary groups. Employees have complained that the test … Read more
Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy comments in his Secrecy News e-mail publication: A REJOINDER ON POLYGRAPH It is not correct to say that no spy has ever been caught as a result of polygraph testing. John F. Sullivan, who served as a CIA polygrapher for 31 years, wrote … Read more
Jonathan Knight reports in the news section of the journal Nature, Vol. 428, p. 243. This short article is cited here in full: A national security expert says he was forced to resign last year because of his vocal opposition to the use of lie detectors at his nuclear weapons lab. Alan Zelicoff, formerly a … Read more
Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy comments in his Secrecy News e-mail publication: THE POLYGRAPH VS. NATIONAL SECURITY As a technology for counterintelligence security screening, the polygraph has been a spectacular failure. It is hard to recall the last time that polygraph screening uncovered an actual spy, and easy … Read more