Please consider adding your name to the petition and helping to end our government's misplaced reliance on pseudoscientific polygraph "tests."
Posted on 10/15/2002 4:11:13 AM PDT by George Maschke
To: President George W. BushPresident George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Bush:
We, the undersigned, ask that you issue an executive order immediately stopping all polygraph screening in the Executive Branch.
On October 8, 2002, the National Academy of Sciences issued a landmark report regarding the use of polygraphy by various federal agencies. Although many issues were explored and several conclusions were drawn, none was more important than the finding that polygraph screening is completely invalid as a diagnostic instrument for determining truth regarding terrorism, espionage, past activities of job applicants, and other important issues currently so assessed by our various federal, state, and local governments. During an associated press briefing, various panel members stated clearly and emphatically that no spy had ever been caught as a result of polygraphy, none would ever be expected to be so revealed, and that although a precise number cannot be assigned to the number of false positive results, large numbers of the tens of thousands of people subjected yearly to this sort of "testing" are likely being falsely accused about their backgrounds and activities.
The jury is in, and the evidence is clear and compelling. The technological and sociological embarrassment we have come to know as polygraph screening should be immediately stopped. Not one more innocent applicant or employee should be falsely accused, and not one more spy should be given cover through having passed a polygraph exam. The notion (as will be suggested by some in government agencies using polygraph screening) that this is "just one tool among many" is wrong and dangerous mumbo jumbo. The results of polygraph screening examinations are either believed, or they are not. If they are believed, they are acted upon, and these actions, if based upon erroneous polygraph results, will continue to lead to grave injury to country and citizens.
There exist few, if any, better examples than polygraph screening to disprove the notion that "anything is better than nothing." Although the difficulties of protecting the national security and of hiring trustworthy and competent employees do represent real challenges and do present real problems, polygraph screening is not, and never was, a meaningful solution to these problems. Many innocent and honest applicants have been and are being wrongly denied federal, state, and local government employment solely based on polygraph results. While these individuals may not have an inalienable right to government employment, they do have a right as U.S. citizens to fair and just treatment by their respective governments.
Spies such as Aldrich Hazen Ames, Karl Frantisek Koecher, Larry Wu-tai Chin, and Ana Belen Montes have been allowed to continue spying at least in part due to the confidence placed in their having passed polygraph exams while they were committing their acts of espionage. As has been demonstrated in spades over the years, not only is polygraph screening not a solution for the problems encountered by those entrusted with protecting the national security, but it is, in fact, a real threat itself to the national security and the reputations of our citizens. Although the report correctly assesses that there are many things that need to be changed and that there is much to be done over time to shore up the national security, there is only one compelling short-term action that screams for completion: end polygraph screening now.
It presumably was not easy for this panel to tell their sponsors that procedures they are currently using are invalid as truth identifiers and lie detectors. Our government should be no less courageous in following the panel conclusions with the timely decisions and policy actions so badly needed and so clearly required by this report. For all these reasons, we ask that you issue an executive order immediately stopping all polygraph screening in the Executive Branch.
Sincerely,
The End Polygraph Screening Now Petition to President George W. Bush was created by AntiPolygraph.org and written by George W. Maschke. This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no express or implied endorsement of this petition by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. The petition scripts are created by Mike Wheeler at Artifice, Inc. For Technical Support please use our simple Petition Help form.
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Please consider adding your name to the petition and helping to end our government's misplaced reliance on pseudoscientific polygraph "tests."
There is no reason to believe that polygraph "testing" has any ability to detect spies (or to detect deception in general). In fact, reliance on polygraphs actually helps spies avoid suspicion, because the "tests" are easily beaten using countermeasures that polygaphers have no demonstrated ability to detect.
For more on how to beat the polygraph, see AntiPolygraph.org's free book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector.
I once was required to take a routine polygraph as a condition of continued employment AND had the audacity to tell the examiner I knew it was unreliable.20/20 or one of those shows had just had a special in which FIVE (out of five )polygraph examiners ALL fingered the wrong person in a search for a missing camera, and NONE discovered the camera was only moved for the purpose of the test. So based on polygraphs, five innocent people could have lost jobs, gone to prison, and been financially ruined!The examiner became ENRAGED and said I was worse than any criminal he had ever tested; and I was out looking for a new job!I soon found a better one.
Polygraphs are as useful and reliable as ouija boards, and desrve the same legal standing.
In 1988, in reaction to public outrage over these asinine "tests," Congress passed, and President Reagan signed into law, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA), which prohibits most employers from requiring employees or applicants for employment to submit to a lie detector "test."
But the EPPA carves out a blanket exemption for government. Federal, state, and local agencies are free to rely on these fraudulent "tests" to whatever extent they please, and to falsely accuse innocent persons with impunity. Governmental reliance on this voodoo science has actually increased, not decreased, since passage of the EPPA.
I think you meant "private" sector. Actually, not all in the private sector are immune from polygraphy, either. Employees of private companies that do contract work for the CIA, NSA, DoD, etc. may be required to first have a session with a polygraph soothsayer.
Correct, I did mean private and I meant what I said. If you don't want to be subject to a polygraph, work for somebody who doesn't require them. Private companies are just that. They make the rules for their companies and you choose whether or not you would like to abide by those rules. It's called liberty.
Personally, I do work for somebody who doesn't require them. However, this does not preclude me from seeking to make government better by striving to end its misplaced reliance on an idiocy.
You have given no statistical data on true positives and only conjecture on false positives along with no data on false and true negatives. I need more than that for you to convince me George.
With regard to false positives, the National Academy of Sciences has determined that hundreds or thousands may be expected for every spy identified. And that's assuming the spy doesn't beat the polygraph using countermeasures (see The Lie Behind the Lie Detector for details on polygraph countermeasures). Moreover, as the NAS report notes, no spy has ever been caught by the polygraph, nor is there any reasonable expectation for believing that one would be.
Doing nothing is better than doing something that is harmful to national security.
Just a correction to make your suggestion more scientific.
The "gripe" of any citizen who sees his government relying on voo-doo nonsense for national security purposes ought to be quite obvious.
Sociopaths don't even need to take specific countermeasures -- they just plain don't exhibit any physiological markers because they don't really distinguish truth from falsehood. You could hook Bill Clinton to a "lie detector", and he could swear that up is down and black is white without making the needle twitch.
Hardly. You have provided even less data to support your position than George which in and of itself is quite an accomplishment.
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