Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
Washington Post staff writer Shankar Vedantam reports. Excerpt: Polygraph tests are ineffective in catching spies and have probably tarred thousands of innocent government employees and applicants with unwarranted suspicion, a top scientific panel has concluded. While lie detectors may have some utility in criminal investigations, where subjects can be tested on specific questions about a …
William J. Broad reports for the New York Times. Excerpt: In a report to the government, a panel of leading scientists said yesterday that polygraph testing was too flawed to use for security screening. The panel said lie-detector tests did a poor job of identifying spies or other national-security risks and were likely to produce …
This short article from the website of KRQE News in Albuquerque, New Mexico is cited here in full: Sandia National Laboratories is looking into allegations of improper questioning of one of its employees by a U.S. Energy Department polygraph examiner. The unidentified employee alleges the examiner asked inappropriate medical questions during a lie detector test. …
Dan Vergano reports for USA Today. Excerpt: A long-time law enforcement favorite, the lie detector, now finds itself sweating the hot lights of scientific inquiry. Crime dramas have long depicted the polygraph’s tangle of wires and wiggling chart lines uncovering lies during a hard-boiled criminal interrogation. As suspects are questioned, the device checks for sweaty …
Tangeni Amupadhi reports for The Namibian. Excerpt: THE Roads Authority has stopped trying to catch out liars among people it wants to hire or promote. The Authority abandoned using lie detector tests after unhappy workers seeking promotion complained to The Namibian. While the Roads Authority has stopped using lie detectors, the man hired to conduct …
Boston Globe correspondent Dan Ephron reports on the case of Dr. Marcus Klingberg in an article titled, “Israel details damaging espionage case.” Excerpt: JERUSALEM – The first reports of his arrest surfaced in 1991. By that time, Marcus Klingberg, one of Israel’s leading scientists, already had been languishing in jail for eight years. Even then, …
Graeme Hosken of the Durban, South Africa Daily News reports. Excerpt: The three-day strike by Fidelity Cash Management Services employees ended on Tuesday when workers and management agreed to sit down and talk about their disputes. Fidelity Cash Management Services employees went on strike on Saturday to protest about the compulsory polygraph test which workers …
Graeme Hosken of the Durban, South Africa Daily News reports on a strike over polygraph “testing.” This short article is cited here in full: Scores of Durban’s automatic teller machines (ATMs) and businesses are expected to run dry on Monday after Fidelity Cash Management Services (FCMS) employees went on strike over the weekend. The strike …
Brian Toohey writes for the Sydney Morning Herald in an article titled, “Security proves a complicated affair.” Excerpt: The war on terrorism also means that US intelligence officials want tough action taken against any Australian minister who has an affair which they regard as a security risk. Although ministers will want to be exempt, the …
Doug Moore of the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports in an article titled, “City fires three employees, charges them with stealing from meters.” Excerpt: Three St. Louis city workers have been fired and charged with stealing quarters from parking meters. As a result, the treasurer’s office is asking some of its other employees to submit …