Polygraphy may be bullshit, but it can be highly lucrative bullshit for those with the right connections. On 21 April 2008, the Department of the Army awarded polygrapher Dan Sosnowski's S.O.S. Services, Inc. a contract (see attached PDF) in the amount of $365,440.00 for the provision of "Polygraph Training and Equipment" in Iraq.

Sosnowski, of Marietta, Georgia, is a long-time board member of the American Polygraph Association is currently that organization's president-elect.

It's worth noting that at least some Islamist insurgents in Iraq are well aware that polygraph "testing" is a fraud. See "The Myth of the Lie Detector" published in the Iraqi jihadist e-zine, Al-Fath, and available here in English translation. And for discussion, see Al-Qaeda Has Read The Lie Behind the Lie Detector.

SanchoPanza wrote on Oct 19^th, 2008 at 2:03pm:


To be sure, it does. But then again, the Department of the Army also disagrees with the National Academy of Sciences regarding the value of polygraphy.

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Yes, I used "bullshit" for emphasis, because "humbuggery" and "poppycock" are too quaint.

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That's no business of yours.

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And what precisely is that?

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No. If I (or anyone else acting in cooperation with AntiPolygraph.org) had done so, such translations would be available on this site.

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What difference does it make if insurgent, or Al Qaeda types use the info in GM's book?   According to you, the info contained in it is bunk.  Countermeasures do not work, and can be detected!  The NAS report is Bullshit!

So why all the fuss?   

OTOH, if the info contained in the book is true (the polygraph is bogus),  and the advice given in the book DOES WORK, and is being used by our nation's enemies, and you KNOW this is the case, yet you, your cohorts, the DOD bureacrats, the intel agencies...etc. still cling stubbornly to it, and protect it like some washed up old actor, despite warnings by the NAS, THEN THAT is the real problem!  You are letting stupid personal pride stand in the way of our nation's security!  All to make a lousy buck!  You're either deluded or a traitor!  Maybe both!

There is going to be REAL political HELL TO PAY, when the truth about US government policy concerning the polygraph becomes widely know by the public.  I hope it happens during my lifetime!

"Well, duh, the polygraph isn't perfect, but, well, duh, it's the  only thing we have.  Guess we'll just have to keep it.  It's not very reliable, but we gotta rely on something, to some extent.  The American people expect it.  Maybe we'll have the NAS produce another report on the polygraph for congress, so we can ignore that one too!  Let's go guys!  Tee time is at 8!"   

What BULLSHIT!

TC

Tap dancing obviously isn't your forte'.  Excuse me, I meant to say you just aren't very good at it.

Absence of your denial is clearly a tacit admission. In other words a party's silence when confronted with a statement made in his presence under circumstances that would normally call for a denial constitutes an admission.

You aren't in court or a "Star Chamber proceeding. 

The First Amendment protects you from any tangible penalty that might result from a truthful response here, other than the possible exposure of information of which you would prefer your supporters remain ignorant. No one has asked you for the identities of the people to whom you have spoken and their privacy is not a t risk for exposure. 

My question is no more racist than your statement:
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My question seeks only to determine your level of participation in the aquisition of this information by "Islamist insurgents", "Al Qaeda" and the "Taliban". 

No one has made the case yet that you have intentionally provided this information to the enemies of the United States. I, for one, leave open the possibility that you were duped by the agents of our enemies. 

Sancho Panza

T.M. Cullen wrote on Oct 19^th, 2008 at 6:47pm:


First Mr. Cullen the polygraph is not bogus. It works, just like polygraphers say it does. 
Second. Dr. Maschke and his co-author have been asked on more than one occasion to produce  a single research study that both (a) proved that the countermeasures he  teaches are an effective means of passing a polygraph and are undetectable and (b) cited in their book TLBTLD as the source of the advice or training for effective and undetectable countermeasures. 
They haven't been able to find one(not even one) yet. 

T.M. Cullen wrote on Oct 19^th, 2008 at 6:47pm:


Third. In case you haven't heard the news, Our government has determined that Dr. Maschke is not ever going to be placed on their list of people who gets to decide what information should be translated and released to the enemies of our country. The fact that YOU both believe that his countermeasures work and are OK that the information has been translated for our enemies reveals volumes about you. Have you ever wondered why if Dr. Maschke was able to convince our government that polygraph didn't work why he would think countermeasures are necessary?  If it doesn't work why does it have to be defeated by cheating?

Sancho Panza

Sancho Panza,

Indeed, it appears to me that the Department of the Army's offer was tailored for a single contractor and that the contract was not awarded competitively. Ten days is very short notice on which to prepare a bid on such a contract.

But what I find most troubling is not that our government may have spent more than it might have to train eight Iraqis as polygraphers, but rather that the entire project is a complete waste of U.S. taxpayer money. Polygraphy is a pseudoscientific fraud, and to the extent that the Iraqi government places any reliance on the auguries of its newly indoctrinated polygraph chartgazers, it will undermine its security.

SanchoPanza wrote on Oct 20^th, 2008 at 3:28pm:


I'm afraid you are blinded by self-interest in your assessment of the scientific merits of polygraphy.

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For the moment, I am content to leave that option to such of Mr. Sosnowski's competitors as may feel they were unfairly disadvantaged by the contract award process.