More than 400 members of the U.S. military -- including individuals in our nation's most-elite special operations units -- have used non-polygraph technology in the combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan to interrogate suspected terrorists and enemy combatants. In a survey of end-users, CVSA® yielded “a remarkably low" rate -- .4 percent -- of false readings.
So why wasn't I surprised to read in an article that Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told members of the House Intelligence Committee yesterday he is tasking an elite U.S. interrogation unit -- an interagency group of top interrogators dubbed the "High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group" -- with conducting "scientific research" to find better ways of questioning top suspected terrorists when one already exists? Because Director Blair is either being kept in the dark about the existence of this non-polygraph technology or he's part of what appears to be a coordinated effort by individuals within the federal government to prevent a replacement for the 60-year-old technology known as the polygraph from gaining a foothold.
The non-polygraph technology that already exists is known as Computer Voice Stress Analysis® -- or CVSA®.
Developed in the United States by West Palm Beach, Fla.-based National Institute for Truth Verification, CVSA is a tool that uses a laptop computer loaded with NITV's patented computer software to detect levels of stress, observable via measurement of micro-muscle tremors, in a vocal response.
While researching this subject and conducting numerous interviews during the past nine months, I've learned -- and continue to learn -- more than I imagined possible about CVSA. The result of my efforts, thusfar, is nearly a dozen pieces in which I've exposed what the headline of my Pajamas Media article published Jan. 14 described as a "Small Group of Bureaucrats Hampering Use of Anti-Terror Technology."
Despite our apparent differences, it appears Director Blair and I share at least a few nuggets of wisdom in common.
While testifying yesterday, Blair noted that the HIG charter required its members to abide by the U.S. Army Field Manual, a set of guidelines that forbids abusive interrogation techniques. In penning my PJM article, I cited an expert with nearly four decades of experience working with voice stress analysis who informed me that few people outside of the Pentagon know Gen. David Petraeus and his advisors advocate for the use of this technology in the Army’s “Counterinsurgency” Field Manual (U.S. Army FM 3-24, Dec. 2006).
And did you notice the phrase, "an expert with nearly four decades of experience with voice stress analysis"? The technology has, indeed, been around since 1971, computerized since 1989.
So what's prevented it from being adopted for widespread use? Individuals within the federal government -- and, especially, the Department of Defense -- polygraph community.
James Chapman, professor emeritus and former director of the Criminal Justice Program and the Forensic Crime Laboratory at the State University of New York in Corning (a.k.a., "the expert mentioned above"), believes they’re trying to preserve an entrenched bureaucratic structure that has existed for decades.
“Within the Pentagon there is a small group of bureaucrats who have not been capable of devising a technology to rival CVSA after more than 20 years and tens of millions of taxpayer dollars spent on research,” Chapman told me during an interview for the Pajamas piece. “Yet they have blocked the CVSA simply to ensure their power and their monopoly over government truth verification operations.”
EDITOR'S NOTE: During the next few months, I plan to continue my research into CVSA and publish my findings in a book, "Turf War." For a nine-page sneak peak and to find out how you can help this writer expose the truth, click here.