This was a great virtual event, and it had nothing to do with Valentine's Day.  LOL.  These panelists discussed the polygraph in great detail and even made some stunning revelations!  George, you have to make a response video like you did with the NSA's polygraph video in 2010!  Thomas Mauriello also mentions your website by name at the 1h6m28s mark!

My takeaway from this event is that detecting lies is a 50/50 coin toss.  Neither the polygrapher (Thomas Mauriello), the AI researcher (M. Ehsan Hoque) nor the psychologist (Jennifer Vendemia) were able to convincingly say that the polygraph results are accurate and valid.  The polygrapher has to try to determine if the subject is lying based on the baseline data, the polygraph charts, and the personality of the subject.  Each subject is different.  There is just no sure way to know if the subject is being deceptive.


Here are some points that I noted:


Thomas Mauriello never mentioned that he worked for the NSA.  He doesn't even mention NSA on his company bio.  However, he mentions the National Security Agency Police Department on his resume and on the Security Services page of his company page. Thomas admits that the polygrapher is NOT A LIE DETECTOR.  Most people do not understand how it works.  The polygraph community has not done a good job of educating the general public. Polygraphs are most effective on criminal suspects on for a single issue such as murdering someone.  The U.S. government makes the use of the polygraph difficult by asking a number of different questions to applicants when screening them for a security clearance. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA9oA5gkd_w&t=18m28s

Thomas Mauriello acknowledges one of the questions that federal polygraphers ask is, "Have you ever committed a serious crime?"  He says this is difficult to answer because "serious" is subjective; he and his fellow federal polygraphers define "serious" as something the subject can get arrested or fined for (which I will add must include littering because you can get fined for that too).  Thomas tells the story of one of his polygraph subjects, who was an engineer seeking a security clearance for a government job, reacted to a question several times, told the subject that the "serious crime" he was reacting to was an affair on his wife 30 years ago.  LOL.  I bet Thomas was hoping for a more adverse confession.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA9oA5gkd_w&t=22m55s

Thomas says that subjects are asked during the pretest what do they know about the polygraph, and if the subject mentions Antipolygraph.org, it is because there is more anti-polygraph material online than pro-polygraph material!  LOL.  He even says that the polygraph community needs to recognize that it is 2021 and people are going to Google anything they can, especially if it is something new to them, and it is normal and does not indicate attempted intentional deception.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA9oA5gkd_w&t=1h6m18s

Someone in the audience asked the question, "Can the polygraph be beaten?"  Thomas only answers that there are additional attachments to detect movements.  Those attachments are the butt pad, feet sensor, along with the usual chest tube, finger clips, and arm cuff.  So he somewhat circumvented the question. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA9oA5gkd_w&t=1h9m36s

Mark S. Zaid, the host, says that the polygraphers of federal agencies using polygraphs for pre-employment screening do not the answers to the questions, that they are fishing, and are trying to get subjects to make an adverse admission.  All the panelists nodded in agreement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA9oA5gkd_w&t=1h12m42s

Jennifer Vendemia says that people have never lost a chance at employment for a "deception indicated" result on a polygraph alone.  This is not true and Thomas corrects her by explaining that applicants for federal agencies have had their careers ruined for this exact reason.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA9oA5gkd_w&t=1h14m11s

Mark says that people who are athletic may have a different heart or breathing rate than a normal subject and the polygrapher may interpret this as a countermeasure.  This is exactly what happened to me with the CIA, and I even wrote this is my appeal letter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA9oA5gkd_w&t=1h20m6s

Thomas says the polygraph is just an investigative tool and should not be the "end all."  He says the U.S. government should do full background investigations and not just rely on the polygraph squiggly lines, which is "crazy."  He also admits the polygraph gets criminals to confess to major crimes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA9oA5gkd_w&t=1h21m3s

Mark says that the polygraph has a utility which is it gets people to make adverse admissions that polygraphers obtain information that they would have otherwise never found out about if it wasn't for the subject making an admission.  He also concludes that Hollywood shows are significantly contributing perpetuate the myth that the polygraph works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA9oA5gkd_w&t=1h23m47s

Good stuff.

The International Spy Museum has posted a video recording of its online event on lie detection to its YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA9oA5gkd_w

This seems worth some looking into. The technology is quite farther advanced. These devices are available for under 300 dollars that show brainwave activity, heart rate, breathing, and show in real time what is happening in response to stimulus. These companies have a business built around doing just what this researcher was talking about although for anxiety control not polygraph control. And the polygraph basically reads anxiety if I'm not mistaken. Some of these devices work off an app with a teacher reading results and doing the training remotely. I have no idea if this is true, but there are many psychiatrists now offering this type of training. I wonder if the benefits could cross over. At the very least it could help avoid the false positives that we are concerned about here by calming down the examinee.

I'm planning on taking the Upcoming test for the NYPD so I have plenty of time to decide what to do when this comes up, I got an article 15/NJP battalion level and I do want to tell them about it but will they request my records or anyone know how the NYPD handles these type of situations? I'm assuming they will care more about my VA rating than my NJP

forumuser,

It was a violation of the Privacy Act for the FBI to contact the LAPD regarding my polygraph results. Human nature hasn't changed, so I expect that such violations still occur from time to time.

George W. Maschke wrote on Feb 6^th, 2021 at 8:41am:


Hi George, in the link in your signature "Too Hot of a Potato" you said that you have a "suspicion that the FBI had contacted the LAPD" about your poly results. I understand that post is very old though, have things changed?

Little research has been done on this question. However, the late David T. Lykken, at p. 274 of the 2nd edition of A Tremor in the Blood: Uses and Abuses of the Lie Detector writes:

Quote:

Is there any data, evidence, or reason to believe that a person who receives neurofeedback training could manipulate poly results? Neurofeedback training claims that after training a subject can consciously alter their brainwave activity, as it relates to stress responses, and by extension heartrate and breathing. It would seem that, if this is true, you could ask this person any question you wish, and they could provide the correct stress responses as they chose for each question, or better yet, simply flatline the entire examination.

In a "Defendant and Third Party Defendants' Motion for Extension of Discovery Deadline," filed on 18 February 2021, counsel for NITV Federal Services, LLC, Lourdes Irimia, James Kane, and Charles Humble writes:

Quote:


A PDF copy of the motion is attached.

Mythology (in addition to what you call pseudoscience) is also used to coerce false confessions, I think. There was a time period when only priests were literate, and mythology was used to teach the peasaants "morals." So, mythology is no better than pseudoscience in eliciting "repentance" which seems to be the ultimate goal. In every way, Chris Watts is obstructing justice. He uses his body to blockade anyone from discovering the murderous rage he is hiding behind him. He goes into his house and opens the door for Coonrod, and the first thing he does is close the curtains in the kitchen so the light cannot shine in. The only way to find truth in his case is to find what truth is not.