James Randi's weekly
commentary dated 12 September 2003 addresses our government's misplaced belief in the lie detector:
Quote:Bob Park's APS "World News" [sic, correct "What's New"] site just ran this item:
POLYGRAPH ROULETTE: DOE HAS MASTERED "THE EXPECTATION GAME."
A two-year study by the National Academy of Sciences, "The Polygraph and Lie Detection," showed polygraph testing to be less than worthless (WN 18 Apr 03). You might have expected at least a token decrease in testing by the Department of Energy. Instead DOE boldly reissued the old policy, which would subject about 20,000 employees to random character assassination. There was an immediate outcry from employees, and Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) convened an Energy Committee oversight hearing on Thursday, where DOE announced that a mere 4,500 employees with top-secret clearance or positions in intelligence will now be subject to having their careers trashed by polygraph roulette. It was a victory for Sen. Domenici, who praised DOE for its enlightened policy. But nothing in the NAS study says the polygraph works better if you have top-secret clearance.
You'll remember that a Steven J. Hatfill came under FBI suspicion in the anthrax matter, and lost his security clearance after a CIA-administered polygraph test yielded "inconclusive" results. Sources familiar with Hatfill's work record said that CIA polygraph examiners tested him as part of his application for top-secret clearance. They reported "inconclusive" results to questions about his years and relationships in Rhodesia and South Africa, and as a result, his regular security clearance was suspended. These agencies insist upon using this primitive, ineffective, and sloppy technology, and it seems that nothing can dissuade them from it.
The FBI, over a period of several years and at great expense, investigated a CIA officer they suspected of treason, and arranged a situation in which, without having his suspicions raised, he was subjected to a polygraph test. He passed that test so well, that the Bureau became all the more convinced he was guilty — because he was so competent at passing the test! Following that, they tried to set him up via a fake Soviet offer for his defection. Since he immediately reported that attempt to his superiors, the FBI became absolutely convinced of his cleverness; reporting a defection offer was such a cunning method, they decided, that it meant he was a super-spy. The only thing that led them to abandon this tack, was when they were listening to a secret tape-recording, sure that the voice they were hearing was the CIA operator's, and a brave agent suggested that it sounded more like the voice of Robert P. Hanssen, a highly-placed agent inside the FBI, and probably the most outstanding American traitor in modern history. It was.
The lesson, students? If the subject fails the polygraph test, he's lying. If he passes, he's really lying. Got that?
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James Randi on Polygraphy (Read 6684 times)
