{"id":702,"date":"2012-07-28T04:45:19","date_gmt":"2012-07-28T09:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/?p=702"},"modified":"2012-07-28T04:49:41","modified_gmt":"2012-07-28T09:49:41","slug":"702","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/28\/702\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Grassley Calls for DoD IG Inspection of NRO Polygraph Program"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>
Sen. Charles E. Grassley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a follow-up to her excellent investigative series on polygraph practices within the National Reconnaissance Office, McClatchy reporter Marisa Taylor writes that Senator Charles Grassley<\/a> (R-IA) thinks that the DoD inspector general should investigate whether NRO is in compliance with DoD polygraph regulations:<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Pentagon officials are scrambling to look into allegations of abusive polygraph techniques by a spy agency but so far they aren\u2019t heeding calls for a more in-depth investigation.<\/p>\n

Pentagon officials met Thursday with the National Reconnaissance Office after a McClatchy investigation found that the spy agency was pressuring its polygraphers to obtain intimate details of the private lives of thousands of job applicants and employees, possibly in violation of the law and Pentagon regulations.<\/p>\n

McClatchy found that the National Reconnaissance Office is so intent on extracting confessions of personal or illicit behavior that officials have admonished polygraphers who refused to go after them and rewarded those who did, sometimes with bonuses.<\/p>\n

The agency, which oversees the nation\u2019s spy satellites, collects the information for employee security clearances, but it isn\u2019t supposed to be pursuing the more personal information, instead asking directly only about spying, terrorism and the unauthorized disclosure of classified information.<\/p>\n

Even though it\u2019s aggressively collecting the private disclosures, when people confess to serious crimes such as child molestation they aren\u2019t always arrested or prosecuted, McClatchy\u2019s investigation revealed.<\/p>\n

The articles prompted one prominent congressman to call this week for an investigation of the agency\u2019s polygraph program. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said he thought that the Pentagon\u2019s inspector general should look at whether the National Reconnaissance Office was in compliance with Defense Department polygraph rules. The Pentagon oversees the agency\u2019s polygraph program even though the agency is a unique mix of CIA and Air Force employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe polygraphers should have clear rules and regulations about the topics they can and should cover in their work,\u201d Grassley said.<\/p>\n

He added that he wanted the inspector general to review how the agency handled confessions to crimes and \u201cmake sure those rules are adequate and clearly communicated to employees.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It should be noted, however, that the DoD inspector general was made aware<\/a> of the problems with the NRO’s polygraph practices in November 2011.<\/strong> If the DoD IG has not yet conducted an investigation, can it be trusted to do so now? Isn’t more direct Congressional oversight called for at this point?<\/p>\n

Taylor goes on to discuss the DoD e-mails<\/a> received by AntiPolygraph.org, citing Mark Zaid<\/a>, who represents former NRO polygrapher Mark Phillips. Zaid opines:<\/p>\n

“The email traffic conveys the distinct impression that senior officials within the polygraph community do not understand the nature of the specific allegations against NRO\u2019s practices,\u201d he said. \u201cTo some extent that is not surprising, given no one with oversight authority in the intelligence community has yet to speak with my client.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A message thread<\/a> for discussion of the NRO polygraph matter is available on the AntiPolygraph.org message board. Registration is not required, and anonymous posts are welcome.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a follow-up to her excellent investigative series on polygraph practices within the National Reconnaissance Office, McClatchy reporter Marisa Taylor writes that Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) thinks that the DoD inspector general should investigate whether NRO is in compliance with DoD polygraph regulations: WASHINGTON \u2014 Pentagon officials are scrambling to look into allegations of abusive …<\/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":[148,149,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-polygraph","7":"tag-national-reconnaissance-office","8":"tag-nro","9":"tag-screening","10":"anons"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":707,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions\/707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}