Batman wrote on Aug 12
th, 2002 at 9:45pm:
However, do you really believe that it was simply the evil polygraph that allowed Ames to do what he did?
Ah, no, that would be both an oversimplification of what I wrote above and an oversimplification of the appropriate placing of responsibility.
At the top of the 'responsibility pyramid' would be, of course, Aldrich Ames. He alone chose his course of actions. Of course, Aldrich Ames met with severe (some say not severe enough) penalties for his criminal acts. He now wastes away in prison and will continue doing so for the rest of his life.
Setting aside for a moment Ames, let's look at the counterintelligence infrastructure that failed miserably for quite some time to detect Ames (and consequently halt the murders of Americans and allies). To deny the importance of the polygraph in this failure is to deny reality; if you're asking me to quantify the amount of responsibility, I cannot, not do I think anyone else can. However, the polygraph is relied upon both by Ames' superiors and the bureaucrats in Washington, and in this sense both parties should be held accountable for their false suppositon that the polygraph is even remotely accurate. It might be enlightening to read what the man himself wrote on
just this subject:
Deciding whether to trust or credit a person is always an uncertain task, and in a variety of situations a bad, lazy or just unlucky decision about a person can result not only in serious problems for the organization and its purposes, but in career-damaging blame for the unfortunate decision-maker. Here, the polygraph is a scientific godsend: the bureaucrat accounting for a bad decision, or sometimes for a missed opportunity (the latter is much less often questioned in a bureaucracy) can point to what is considered an unassailably objective, though occasionally and unavoidably fallible, polygraph judgment. All that was at fault was some practical application of a "scientific" technique, like those frozen O-rings, or the sandstorms between the Gulf and Desert One in 1980... I've seen these bureaucratically-driven flights from accountability operating for years, much to the cost of our intelligence and counterintelligence effectiveness. The US is, so far as I know, the only nation which places such extensive reliance on the polygraph. As I wrote before, Ames will never leave prison. The decision-makers who relied upon a pseudo-scientific fraud and were partly responsible for allowing Ames to commit espionage that ultimately led to the deaths of American citizens were, to my knowledge, never sanctioned.
Quote:You appear to be an almost educated individual, so you can't possibly think that polygraph alone was at fault for Ames.
Hey, here's an almost thank-you for that almost insult masquerading as an almost compliment.
Quote:What about the Walker family? They did a hell of a lot of damage to national security? Was polygraph at fault there?
Again, I do not blame the polygraph, I blame the people who place reliance upon a pseudo-scientific fraud as a counterespionage screening tool.
Quote:There have been many spies who never came near a polygraph instrument or an evil examiner.
We're not discussing those spies, are we? For the purposes of this discussion, we're focused on the failure of the polygraphers to detect lies, in this case lies put forth by Aldrich Ames.
Quote:Who do you blame for their actions?
The person who commits the act of espionage is to blame. I would think this would be obvious to everyone, but I'm happy to answer it again.
Quote:Beech, you ignorance as to how the system really works speaks volumes. The problem is you sometimes wear it like a badge of honor.
Setting aside Yet Another Crass and Boorish Insult, I will humour your accusation and ask you to enlighten us all: How does the system really work?
Quote:Let it ring loud and clear, polygraph and those evil examiners are the root of all the world's problems. Just think, do away with polygraph and you do away with world hunger, suicide bombers, war, strife, conflict, orphaned children, drunk drivers, stray bullets, gangs, sexual molestation of children, rape, abortion, the death penalty, cancer (of all types), Aids, all illness, and terrorism.
Beech, my boy, those are just a few of the issues that fall a tad higher on the "who gives a damn" scale than your hated polygraph. That's why, in the big scheme of things, polygraph just isn't on the radar screen. But, don't despair, the world always needs someone like you to fight off the gnats. That frees up the rest of us to beat back the alligators.
If the problems/crimes/diseases you cite above are more important to the general public, it is in part because the pseudo-scientific fraud of polygraphy has been outlawed and may not be used against them in the workplace. Again, your attempts to trivilialize the problem ring hollow to me.
Finally, I find it astounding that polygraphers and their pro-polygraph cohorts expound the crucially important role the polygraph plays in national security whilst simultaneously-- on the very same message board--minimizing and trivializing the polygraph's role in national security. Which assertion is the lie?
Dave
P.S. I thought bats took more interest in gnats than alligators.
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