Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
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 …
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 …
Sue Vorenberg reports for the Albuquerque Tribune. Excerpt: A new study saying polygraph tests are not accurate enough to screen government employees for potential security risks doesn’t surprise Al Zelicoff. But it doesn’t go far enough for him, either. Zelicoff, a senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories and a leading critic of polygraph tests, said …
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. …
Jim Wilson writes for Popular Mechanics. Excerpt: Lie detectors have never been popular. Criminals, obviously, don’t like them. The courts want nothing to do with them, and refuse to admit polygraph results as evidence. Police have mixed feelings–depending upon whether they are giving the test or taking it. Although the billion-dollar polygraph industry administers an …
Albuquerque Tribune reporter Maria Cranor reports. Excerpt: An Albuquerque doctor and senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories is urging New Mexico doctors not to cooperate with a new federal polygraph policy that now provides for medical waivers. In a letter sent Thursday to the New Mexico Board of Medical Examiners, Dr. Alan Zelicoff wrote: “Physicians …
Kathleen Koch reports for CNN. Excerpt: WASHINGTON (CNN) — The director of one of the nation’s nuclear weapons labs has told employees they don’t have to cooperate when asked medical questions by government polygraphers, CNN has learned. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories, with headquarters near Albuquerque, New Mexico, have expressed concern that, before being given …
The following memorandum was distributed by e-mail at Sandia National Laboratories on 2 April 2001: This message, written by Labs Director C. Paul Robinson, is being sent at his request to all Sandians: As you have doubtless already heard, we have received complaints from a growing number of employees regarding the Congressionally mandated polygraphs for …
Albuquerque Tribune reporter Ollie Reed, Jr. reports. Excerpt: Medical questions on mandated polygraph tests are raising eyebrows among some scientists at Sandia National Laboratories. Rod Geer, a spokesman at the Albuquerque lab, acknowledged today that there is a growing concern among Sandia scientists that polygraph questions about the medications individual scientists take are invasive and …
Correspondent David Martin reports for CBS Evening News. Excerpt: (CBS) Scientists at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuqurque, New Mexico, one of three nuclear weapons labs run by the Department of Energy are in revolt, threatening not to take required lie detector tests, because they include personal questions which have nothing to do with protecting secrets, …