Israeli Scientist Who Spied for Soviets Passed “Successive Lie Detector Tests”

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, … Read more

South Africa: “Guards End Strike Over Lie-Detector Test”

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 … Read more

South Africa: “Fidelity Cash Men on Strike in Durban”

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 … Read more

U.S. Pressures Australia to Embrace Polygraph Screening

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 … Read more

Lie Detector “Tests” for St. Louis Parking Division Employees

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 … Read more

“Annual Polygraph Report Published”

Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Secrecy in Government Project reports in today’s Secrecy News electronic newsletter: ANNUAL POLYGRAPH REPORT PUBLISHED The Department of Defense this week released its Annual Polygraph Report for 2001, reaffirming the Department’s commitment to polygraph testing as an instrument of counterintelligence and criminal investigations as well as for … Read more

“Police Applicants No Longer Face Lie-Detector Tests”

Thomas J. Gibbons, Jr., reports for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Excerpt: In a major policy shift, candidates for the Philadelphia Police Department will no longer have to pass a lie-detector test to be accepted to the force, according to a directive from Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson. The order takes effect immediately, affecting a new list … Read more

“Police Drop Polygraph as Hiring Tool”

Gloria Campisi reports for the Philadelphia Daily News. Excerpt: The Philadelphia Police Department is scrapping the polygraph test as a hiring tool. Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said yesterday more intensive background checks would replace the lie detector test, which has been in use here for more than 20 years. The action was hailed by a … Read more

FBI Training Unit Chief Says Nearly Half of Agent Applicants Don’t Pass Polygraph

In an article titled, “FBI seeks to rebuild its image,” Chris Mondics of the Philadelphia Inquirer Washington bureau reports that Roger L. Trott, chief of the FBI’s agent training unit, asserts that nearly half of FBI agent applicants who pass preliminary tests don’t pass the polygraph. Excerpt: …The bureau expects to hire only about 5 … Read more

“Lie Detectors: Has the Polygraph Ever Uncovered a Spy?”

Bob Park of the American Physical Society comments on polygraphy in the 19 April 2002 installment of his weekly column, “What’s New”: 4. LIE DETECTORS: HAS THE POLYGRAPH EVER UNCOVERED A SPY? WN believes it has not (WN 5 Apr 02). If it has, the government has never acknowledged the fact. The National Academy of … Read more