Washington Post staff writer Dan Eggen reports on FBI polygraph policy. Excerpt: It seemed like a routine polygraph screening. Mark Mallah and his colleagues, members of an FBI counterintelligence unit in New York, were hooked up to lie detector machines and quizzed about drug use, contacts with foreigners and other subjects deemed vital to their … Read more
In an article entitled, “Tapes were key to freeing accused Elyria man,” Sabrina Eaton and Stephen Koff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer report on an apparent extreme case of polygraph abuse by the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service. On 9 March 2001, the U.S. Navy dropped espionage charges against Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel King. … Read more
Philip Shenon, in a New York Times article entitled, “Public Lives: A Former Insider to Investigate the Investigators,” discusses among other things, Judge William H. Webster’s thoughts on expanding polygraph screening in the FBI. Excerpt: WASHINGTON — When he was the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, William H. Webster figured that if he … Read more
n an article entitled “Just the Truth: LAPD recruits are having trouble with new lie-detector tests,” Bobbi Murray reports for LA Weekly. Excerpt: After lagging behind other law-enforcement agencies that routinely give polygraph tests to potential recruits, the Los Angeles Police Department started using lie-detector tests to screen recruits in February. One month later, the … Read more
Los Alamos Monitor assistant editor Roger Snodrass reports on a recent talk by Professor William G. Iacono at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Excerpt: Conventional “lie-detecting” is an outdated and dubious practice that is inherently biased against innocent people. That is the conclusion of William Iacono, a psychology professor from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, who … Read more
n his electronic newsletter, Secrecy News, Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy reports: ASHCROFT ON POLYGRAPH TESTING Attorney General John Ashcroft gave a qualified endorsement to polygraph testing at the FBI at a press conference yesterday. “It’s my understanding that there have been cases in the past that polygraphing … Read more
In an article entitled “FBI to Expand Polygraph Testing After Spy Case,” Reuters correspondent James Vicini notes that Attorney General John Ashcroft said in a press conference that he knows polygraph screening “tests” to have a 15% false positive rate. (Ashcroft’s actual words were, “The polygraph is said to have about 15 percent false positives…”) … Read more
Confusing “more polygraphs” with “greater security,” ABC News reports that the FBI has decided to expand polygraph screening. Excerpt: W A S H I N G T O N, March 1 — FBI Director Louie Freeh is planning new measures to improve internal security in the wake of the Hanssen spy probe — including random … Read more
This Christian Science Monitor editorial advocates increased reliance on polygraph screening by the FBI. Excerpt: We will find spies and we will prosecute them,” said President Bush at his first press conference last week. But catching a spy red-handed, as the FBI apparently did with agent Robert Hanssen this month, is like trying to dazzle … Read more
In this Washington Post op-ed piece, former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal writer Ronald Kessler says that FBI Director Louis Freeh should be fired for not having required routine polygraph “testing” for FBI counterintelligence personnel. Mr. Kessler obviously doesn’t know about “the lie behind the lie detector.” Excerpt: Back in 1994, just after the … Read more