[Infowarrior] - Pentagon's intelligence arm steps up lie detecting

[Richard Forno]

Pentagon's intelligence arm steps up lie detecting

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-08-23-intelligence-lies_N.htm?csp=34

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon's intelligence arm is adding more  
polygraph studios and relying on outside contractors for the first  
time to conduct lie detection tests in an attempt to screen its 5,700  
prospective and current employees every year.

The stepped-up effort by the Defense Intelligence Agency is part of a  
growing emphasis on counterintelligence, detecting and thwarting would- 
be spies and keeping sensitive information away from America's enemies.

A polygraph is not foolproof as a screening tool. The test gives a  
high rate of false positives on innocent people, and guilty subjects  
can be trained to beat the system, according to expert Charles Honts,  
a psychology professor at Boise State University.

The National Research Council noted these deficiencies in a 2003  
report. The council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, found  
that lie detectors can be useful for ferreting out the truth in  
specific incidents, but are unreliable for screening prospective  
national security employees for trustworthiness.

"Its accuracy in distinguishing actual or potential security violators  
from innocent test takers is insufficient to justify reliance on its  
use in employee security screening in federal agencies," the council  
concluded. "Polygraph testing as currently used has extremely serious  
limitations in such screening applications, if the intent is both to  
identify security risks and protect valued employees."

John Sullivan, a polygrapher with the CIA for 31 years, noted that  
turncoat Aldrich Ames, a CIA mole for the Soviets, beat a polygraph  
test twice.

But the prospect of facing a polygraph can deter future security  
violations, according to the council's report. That prospect also  
increases the frequency of admission of violations — taking home  
classified documents, for example — and discourages people who may be  
security risks from applying.

"Right now the polygraph is the best tool they have at their hands but  
it's not a tool that's without problems," Honts said.

The increase in lie detection at the DIA is three years in the making.  
In 2005 the agency's director announced plans to test every  
prospective new DIA hire, whether a permanent federal worker or  
contract employee.

The DIA would not say how many prospective, current and past employees  
are screened annually, but a 2002 report to Congress said the agency  
conducted 1,345 counterintelligence polygraphs. It also said the  
Defense Department had an average of about 160 government polygraphers  
on its payroll annually for the last decade. The Pentagon's  
polygraphing institute trains all polygraphers for the government. It  
produced 84 new examiners in 2002, according to the latest publicly  
available statistics.

Until 2004, Congress severely limited the Pentagon's authority to  
conduct polygraphs for counterintelligence purposes. From 1988 to  
1990, it could conduct 10,000 a year. From 1990 to 2004, that number  
was cut to 5,000. Congress lifted that cap in 2004 at the request of  
the Defense Department.

Polygraph sessions are typically three- to four-hour interrogations. A  
person is hooked up to a machine that measures physiological  
responses. The subject is asked a series of "yes" and "no" questions.  
The machine records changes in blood pressure, respiration and heart  
rate and electrical activity in the skin. The polygrapher interprets  
that data to determine whether the answers show inconsistencies or  
indicate deception, based on established parameters

An unclassified DIA document describing the new effort says the  
contractor hired to perform the exams will conduct a minimum of 4,550  
a year in 13 new polygraph studios. The polygraphers would have to  
work at a brisk pace to meet the target: Each studio would need to  
complete 350 sessions a year to meet contract specifications. Those 13  
new studios would be added to the eight now manned by DIA  
polygraphers. All would be overseen by DIA personnel.

The document says that the agency will, for the first time, hire  
contractors to administer the tests rather than relying on government  
polygraphers.

Mark Zaid is a lawyer who represents federal employees in lawsuits  
against the government, many involving disputed polygraphs. He said  
the government's reliance on lie detection tools is an easy way around  
the more reliable, but more time-consuming, security background  
investigations. There is a massive backlog for these.

"It's a cheap fix to a broken system," Zaid said.

The problem, Zaid said, is that there is no process for government  
employees to challenge a polygrapher's interpretation of a test. "They  
get labeled a liar, and that's it," Zaid said.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This  
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.