James Randi's weekly commentary (http://www.randi.org/jr/091203.html) dated 12 September 2003 addresses our government's misplaced belief in the lie detector:
QuoteBob 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?
QuoteThe lesson, students? If the subject fails the polygraph test, he's lying. If he passes, he's really lying. Got that?
The new motto for DoDPI ;)
Great line Orolan....and what kind of motto can there be for a sex offender who is still in denial.....??????...wait...wait, I know....OROLAN RULES
Ouch! That must have really hurt.
Guest,
Works for me ;D
Denial ??? Care to elaborate, since you know so much about me, my crime and my circumstances ??? Didn't think so.
So FOAD.
Mr. Truth,
Didn't hurt a bit ;)
I know it didn't, but I couldn't find a dripping sarcasm smiley.
Mr. Truth,
Perhaps we need to petition the webmaster to create one ???
come on now orolan....you know what you are...it was heard in group.....oops, now maybe you know who this is.....you know what you did...you ARE what you are....and FOAD???? isn't that a bit childish? The first step to healing is to stop denying...you know the drill!
Guest,
OK. I'll play along.
My therapy was "one-on-one", not "group".
Score is 1-0 my favor. Show us something else you don't know.
FOAD childish? If my kid said that to me, she'd be eating a bar of soap. Sorry your kids talk to you that way. Sorry you let them.
Hey Orolan
Does Guest's comments tell us what he is? Sounds extremely condeming to me.
Twoblock,
I love it when people talk about things they know nothing about. Much better than Comedy Central ;D
C'mon oro-pervert. You were the one who told me to "FOAD" not the other way around. You DO like to twist things. Oh I know, you did not mean what I thought it meant, right? Face it whether it was group or one on one. you are a molester and that is all there is! Your comades in arms fear the polygraph because it puts them back where they belong. They are really in fear now because they can expect what happened to the molesting defrocked priest to happen to them. Go ahead tell the folks on the board, inmates don't care for the likes of you guys now do they!
Guest,
Your ignorant ad hominem attacks against Orolan do nothing to bolster the case for CQT polygraphy, a pseudoscientific procedure that the National Academy of Sciences has likened to a superstitious ritual with the polygraph operator presiding as shaman.
It should come as no surprise that those who are subject to polygraph screening, from CIA case officers to probationers, are increasingly learning about "the lie behind the lie detector."
It is those who (despite the clear findings of the National Academy of Sciences) continue to rely on this pseudoscientific nonsense, and not those who are working to expose it for the fraud that it is, who endanger public safety and national security.
Guest,
Quoteyou are a molester and that is all there is
And who did I "molest" ???
You're the expert about me. Come on. Tell us. Who was it? Was it a boy or a girl? How old was s/he?
--and--
Quoteinmates don't care for the likes of you guys
What terrible things did they do to you while you were in prison? Have you talked it over in group?