{"id":2869,"date":"2001-02-21T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2001-02-21T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/?p=2869"},"modified":"2026-05-17T08:58:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T13:58:25","slug":"fbi-may-consider-random-polygraph-screening-in-wake-of-hanssen-espionage-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/2001\/02\/21\/fbi-may-consider-random-polygraph-screening-in-wake-of-hanssen-espionage-case\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI May Consider Random Polygraph Screening in Wake of Hanssen Espionage Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry\">\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an article entitled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/archive\/politics\/2001\/02\/21\/invisible-on-the-inside\/302270bd-a696-44c6-9930-a5b2554f1285\/\">&#8220;Invisible on the Inside,&#8221;<\/a> Walter Pincus and Vernon Loeb of the <em>Washington Post<\/em> report that the FBI may consider expanding its polygraph program to include random &#8220;testing&#8221; of personnel in the wake of the Robert P. Hanssen espionage case, and reveal that a plan has been on the shelf for three years:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Nonetheless, Freeh acknowledged at his press conference that Webster&#8217;s review is all but certain to find flaws in FBI procedures for ferreting out spies. One area likely to be scrutinized, according to present and former officials, is the bureau&#8217;s unwillingness to give polygraph or &#8220;lie detector&#8221; tests to employees on a periodic basis.<\/p><p>While polygraphing of recruits began in 1993, the FBI &#8212; unlike the CIA and National Security Agency &#8212; has no agency-wide program for ongoing testing of its officers.<\/p><p>One former top FBI counterintelligence official said the bureau has shied away from polygraphing agents because, he said, &#8220;We consider it an inexact science.&#8221; Now, he added, &#8220;They will have to look at it again.&#8221;<\/p><p>Edward J. Curran, who as a former top FBI counterintelligence expert went to the CIA to tighten security after the Ames case, was sharply critical yesterday of the bureau&#8217;s policy. &#8220;There has been a program for regular polygraphing of FBI agents waiting to be approved for three years,&#8221; he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an article entitled &#8220;Invisible on the Inside,&#8221; Walter Pincus and Vernon Loeb of the Washington Post report that the FBI may consider expanding its polygraph program to include random &#8220;testing&#8221; of personnel in the wake of the Robert P. Hanssen espionage case, and reveal that a plan has been on the shelf for three &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[175,30,70,304],"class_list":["post-2869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-polygraph","tag-espionage","tag-fbi","tag-polygraph-screening","tag-robert-p-hanssen","anons"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>FBI May Consider Random Polygraph Screening in Wake of Hanssen Espionage Case - AntiPolygraph.org News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/2001\/02\/21\/fbi-may-consider-random-polygraph-screening-in-wake-of-hanssen-espionage-case\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FBI May Consider Random Polygraph Screening in Wake of Hanssen Espionage Case - AntiPolygraph.org News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In an article entitled &#8220;Invisible on the Inside,&#8221; Walter Pincus and Vernon Loeb of the Washington Post report that the FBI may consider expanding its polygraph program to include random &#8220;testing&#8221; of personnel in the wake of the Robert P. 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