Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
Oded Hermoni reports for Ha’aretz: The American government is funding the development of new technology for a polygraph machine that is capable of identifying whether a person is telling the truth, without physically attaching him to the equipment. There are also plans to develop a mat of sensors that will be used in airports to …
Tim Smith reports for the Greenville Times. Excerpt: The FBI has begun polygraphing Greenville postal workers and truck drivers as the investigation into who delivered a package containing the deadly poison ricin to a Greenville mail facility moves into the third week, the president of the local postal workers union said Thursday. Dennis Zimmerman, president …
Richard Willing reports for USA Today. Excerpt: PHILADELPHIA — In a quiet corner of the University of Pennsylvania campus, professor Britton Chance is using near-infrared light to peek at lies as they form in the brains of student volunteers. Eventually, Chance hopes to see something else: a day when a device like his replaces the …
Associated Press writer Kimberly Hefling reports how an innocent suspect failed his FBI polygraph “test,” while his lying accuser passed. Excerpt: EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) – An FBI agent who helped arrest eight Egyptian men in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks became the driving force behind clearing their names, an arduous process that eventually …
In an article titled, “You can bet Mohammed will talk,” New York Daily News columnist Zev Chafets suggests that alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed will be subjected to polygraphic interrogation. Excerpt: Polygraphs…are not only admissible but indispensable. “They won’t let him say a single word without being hooked up to a lie detector,” says …
In an Albany, NY Times Union article titled, “In terror pursuit, a maze of leads,” staff writer Brendan Lyons mentions criticism of the FBI’s reliance on polygraphy. Excerpt: Shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a 34-year-old Jordanian immigrant who was being held in Albany County jail contacted authorities and claimed he had driven one …
The FBI’s nationwide dragnet for suspected terrorist infiltrators was based on an apparently bogus tip from accused Canadian forger Michael Hamdani. In a 3 January 2003 Washington Post article titled “Fake-ID Arrest Led to FBI Hunt,” staff writer John Mintz reported that U.S. and Canadian investigators had questioned Hamdani extensively using polygraph machines. U.S. President …
Associated Press writer Devlin Barrett reports in an article titled, “Wrongly Jailed Student Sues Agent, Hotel Over 9/11 Aviation Radio Probe.” Excerpt: NEW YORK — An Egyptian student wrongly jailed for a month as a suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks filed a $20 million lawsuit Thursday against the FBI agent who extracted his false …
CNN’s Phil Hirschkorn and Deborah Feyerick report. Excerpt: NEW YORK (CNN) — A report unsealed by a federal judge Monday found no support for accusations that the FBI coerced a confession from an Egyptian exchange student who was detained last year in connection with the September 11 terrorist attacks. During a December 27 FBI lie …
New York Times correspondent Benjamin Weiser reports. Excerpt: Release to the public of a report due this week on how the F.B.I. obtained a confession from an innocent Egyptian student who was detained in connection with the attack on the World Trade Center could be delayed as a result of an escalating dispute between prosecutors …