Looking for exam transcripts

[Andy Balmer]

Hey Andy

Can we expect a chapter exploring the individual rights violations when subjects "fail" the "test" and are unjustly judged to be untrustworthy based solely on those "results"?

Also, can we expect a chapter explaining that subjecting someone to the polygraph "test" five times in three years is abusive?

Hey - I do cover these kinds of things as regards false confessions and miscarriages of justice. But I don't look at security agency or government repeat tests in much detail as these are - at least partially - covered in Ken Alder's work.

Andy

[Andy Balmer]

I wrote my PhD thesis on lie detection, critically engaging with the scientific account and with the social history of the polygraph's use.

Thanks for the details Andy. Did your research reveal the polygraph to have the ability to detect deception above chance? What other methods of lie detection did you research?

- Hey,

I didn't perform any experiments in my PhD. It was more a case of reading the scientific literature to understand how they conduct experiments on reliability and validity and to see if these were philosophically and sociologically sound. They are not, in the most part, for there is still too little evidence for any consistent connection between intention to lie and bodily responses. To my mind, you have to sort validity before you worry about reliability, but most polygraph science emphasises reliability.

[Andy Balmer]

I have your next book Andy.

Sounds like an important study!

[skingalvanics]

But I don't look at security agency or government repeat tests in much detail as these are - at least partially - covered in Ken Alder's work.

How extensive is the use of the polygraph by the British security agencies for vetting purposes?  Was their use thereof something imposed by the US?   

[John M.]

Sounds like an important study!

And a fascinating story.  Good to hear from you Andy.

In the haste to catch the next Edward Snowden, the Obama administration created an "Insider Threat Task Force" to find and stop the next leakers – at all cost.  Have you ever not been able to succeed at a job?  What do you do when you can't find any Edward Snowdens?  I imagine it must get frustrating. 

Well, the honorable James R. Clapper and his sycophants ordered everyone under his "command" to undergo polygraphs.  As of yet, this abusive program hasn't done anything to catch an insider threat, but the policy of condemning someone based solely on those "results" has ruined the lives of countless innocent people.

I was polygraphed five times in three years with results alternating between "No Opinion", and "Significant Response".  After reading about ontological uncertainty and applying it to my anxiety disorder, it's rather obvious that my performance under the threat of losing my career, would generate an extremely biased "Significant Response".  Ultimately, they took my clearances, called me a "vulnerability" and involuntarily reassigned me to a position 1,000 miles away.

By using the "results" of the polygraph as the sole basis for punishing me, the Agency has committed defamation of my character and violated my civil rights for not affording me due process.

Here's where the story gets interesting – The Department of Defense has approved and extremely relevant regulations that specifically prohibit taking unfavorable administrative actions against someone based solely on the results of the polygraph.  Yet they still do it.  No one in charge is capable, or willing to stop them.

Furthermore, there is a concerted effort to hide their abuse, as senior officials from the DIA Office of Security are falsifying records and flat out lying to federal officials and judges.  I now possess the indisputable material evidence.

It is not hyperbole to say that at DIA, the Insider Threat Program and the Credibility Assessments Program operate like a modern day Gestapo, Stassi, or KGB.  There are 13 indicators of a potential insider threat, and all employees are encouraged to be vigilant and report anything suspicious about their co-workers.

The worst part? The polygraph test is not one of those indicators.

By the way, it is rumored that Edward Snowden "passed" his polygraph.

[George W. Maschke]

Andy,

This recent article on the Scientific American website and the Netflix series "The Confession Tapes" that it references may be useful for your research:

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/what-netflixs-the-confession-tapes-teach-us-about-the-psychology-of-interrogations/

[Andy Balmer]

Andy,

This recent article on the Scientific American website and the Netflix series "The Confession Tapes" that it references may be useful for your research:

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/what-netflixs-the-confession-tapes-teach-us-about-the-psychology-of-interrogations/

Thank you, George!