Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
The Associated Press reports on counterespionage measures adopted by the FBI in the wake of the Hanssen affair, including a discussion of the Bureau’s counterintelligence-scope polygraph program. Excerpt: Former CIA and FBI Director William Webster is wrapping up a massive review of the FBI’s internal security in the aftermath of the Robert Hanssen spy case. …
Knight-Ridder Washington correspondent Tim Johnson reports in an article published in the Miami Herald on the guilty plea of DIA analyst Ana Belen Montes, who was recruited by Cuban intelligence even before she began her DIA career. Excerpt: WASHINGTON – A senior U.S. intelligence analyst, Ana Belen Montes, admitted in federal court on Tuesday that …
Taipei Times staff reporter Brian Hsu reports in an article titled, “NSB plans oversight committee.” Excerpt: National Security Bureau (NSB) director Tsai Tsao-ming…yesterday said that the bureau has begun instituting plans for the formation of a legislative committee to oversee intelligence. Tsai said the plans were in line with recent legislative proposals to better monitor …
Associated Press writer Jesse J. Holland reports in an article published in the Washington Post under the title, “Senators Call for FBI Oversight Legislation.” Excerpt: WASHINGTON – Two senators called for sweeping changes in the FBI Thursday, including mandated lie detector tests of people working with sensitive information, letting Justice Department investigators independently look at …
Los Angeles Times staff writers Jill Leovy and Matea Gold, in an article titled “Parks Defends Record on Crime, Consent Decree,” mention that Police Chief Bernard C. Parks acknowledged a 50% pre-employment polygraph failure rate in a meeting with reporters on Friday, 8 Feb. Excerpt (emphasis added): On recruiting, Parks argued that factors outside his …
Palm Beach Post staff writer Bill Douthat reports on alleged impropriety in the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. The allegations involve polygrapher Harold Thomas Sorensen, a member of the Florida Polygraph Association. Excerpt: A sheriff’s polygrapher who gave a lie detector test to the daughter of his boss failed to properly report her deceptive answers …
In an article titled, “FBI Flooded With Applicants,” Los Angeles Times staff writer William Overend reports that about 20% of special agent applicants who make it as far as the polygraph fail it. Excerpt: Mike Hilliard, who retired three years ago after 21 years as the chief recruiting agent in Los Angeles, estimated that about …
The St. Petersburg Times calls for dumping the polygraph in this editorial. Excerpt: In a stark overreaction to the spying allegations against Wen Ho Lee, a scientist at the Los Alamos weapons lab in New Mexico, Congress ordered the Energy Department to begin a massive polygraph screening program for employees at the nation’s nuclear weapons …
Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Secrecy in Government Project reports in today’s Secrecy News electronic newsletter: DOE POLYGRAPH POLICY TO BE REPEALED The controversial Department of Energy counterintelligence polygraph program that was enacted by Congress three years ago will be repealed and replaced by a new program, according to the Defense Authorization …
AntiPolygraph.org’s George Maschke comments in this Los Angeles Daily News op-ed piece. Excerpt: LOS Angeles has awarded a $615,000 noncompetitive contract to a company to give polygraph tests to Los Angeles Police Department recruits, paying double the going rate for lie-detector experts. Phyllis Lynes, assistant general manager for the Personnel Department’s Public Safety Bureau, has …