THE CLUES OF DECEIT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605740067-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 67
• Publication Date: June 19, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605740067-0
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WASHINGTON POST
19 June 1985
The Clues of Deceit
By Sally Squires
Washington Post staff Writer
ndrei Gromyko told them to John F.
Kennedy during the Cuban missile cri-
them off..on Neville Chamberlain just
before World-War II. And more
recettt}y, ac-
cused spy ring leader John Anthony Walker Jr.
allegedly fooled the Navy about his espionage
activities for almost two decades.
142s well is a special talent, not easily ac-
red, says University o a orma at
an
Franciscoys c o ogist a an, w o has
studi d lying for 20 years.
To he success u y, Ekman says, "one must be-
a natural performer, winning and charming in
manner. Such people are able, without thought,
to.manage their expressions, giving off just the
impression they seek to convey."
Lying, falsehoods and deception "provide a
unique window to voluntary and involuntary be-
havior," says Ekman, author of a new book called
"Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in Marketplace,
Politics and Marriage." "In terms of understand-
ing brain-behavior relationships and emotion,
lying [provides] an excellent situation."
Ekman's studies of numerous people engaged
in telling lies and the truth have demonstrated
that a he often can be betrayed by changes in
voice, facial expressions, use of words and body
movement.
By analyzing videotapes, frame by frame,
Ekman found what he labels. "leakage"-clues
that lying is taking place. His work, which has
been supported by the National Institute of Men-
tal Health, is being used to train other people to
detect lying-ranging from psychologists. to peo-
ple concerned with national security.
His studies also su est just tow hard it can
be to detect 'cularly g s-es y
wi a stan ygra a etector est
which is used about one on tunes a year by
private companies, lice de nts and
fed-
eral agencies including the military and the n-
tral InteWgence Agency.
Most recently, the on-going investigation of
accused spy John Anthony Walker Jr. highlights
how important detecting lie's and breeches in
national security can be, Ekman says.
Both Walker, a retired Navy communications
officer, and his brother Arthur James Walker,
also now. under arrest for spying. had "top se-
cret" clearances in the Navy. While,.the Navy
refuses to divulge whether or. not the Walkers
had a polygraph test, earlier this year, Rear Ad-
miral John L. Butts, chief of Naval Intelligence,
submitted a statement to the Senate Govern-
mental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations
saying that it is Navy policy to use the polygraph
for such security screening.
"The polygraph is a valuable and effective tool
for specific personnel security purposes," Butts
wrote. "The polygraph is particularly useful in
assessing candidates for access to our most sen-
sitive information and for periodic reassessment
of such individuals."
Polygraph tests use electrodes-usually,
four-to keep track of changes in the autonomic
nervous system, which regulates a wide range of,
bodily functions from breathing and heart rate to
skin temperature. These changes signal alter-
ations in emotions, but can't measure directly if
someone is lying. For this reason, controversy
rages over the accuracy, of polygraph tests.
While more than 4,000 articles and books have
been published on the reliability of the polygraph
test, Ekman notes that "less than 400 actually in-
volved research, and of these no more than 30 to
40 meet minimum scientific standards."
Critics also contend that polygraph tests
can be fooled by physical activities like
biting one's tongue, the use of drugs, hyp-
nosis and biofeedback. These counter-
measures are used when someone is first hooked
up to get a baseline reading on the polygraph.
Then later, when the person lies, the test may not
pick up the deception.
"The Soviets have a school to train agents how
to pass polygraph tests," Ekman.says. "And in ad-
dition to the Soviet school, there is an American
school that travels around the country [claiming to
teach people] how to beat polygraphs.
"We need to know: Does that training work
and can we detect if someone is using that train-
ing. I think it is a near scandal that this country
has not done the work to explore how effective
countermeasures. can be and if we can counter
the countermeasures."
Ekman notes in "Telling Lies," how former act-
ing assistant secretary of defense for health affairs,
Dr. John Beary III, "... warned the Pentagon that
,its reliance on the polygraph, was endangering
rather than protecting national security."
Even without training, some people may be
able "to beat the polygraph," Ekman says. "If we
could identify such people ahead of time, then we
better not rely on a polygraph, we better rely on
the more expensive field (or backgrognd) exam-
inations."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605740067-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605740067-0
Just as some people learn naturally how to tell
lies, recent work at Ekman's lab also shows that
other people apparently can teach themselves to
spot a liar.
Most people-including mental health profes-
sionals accustomed to detecting lies in their
practices-perceive lies correctly only about 50
to 60 percent of the time. (With several weeks of
training, Ekman says he can teach people how to
raise their lie detection accuracy rate to about
90 percent.)
But when Ekman tested several Secret Ser-
vice agents' ability to detect lying, he found in-
triguing results. One agent with 10 years of ex-
perience with the Secret Service scored the usu-
al 50 to 60 percent accuracy rate. But two other
agents, each with more than 20 years of expe-
rience, scored almost perfect results.
"These findings suggest that people who have
had a lot of experience-20 years or more-al-
ready know what we have learned in the labora-
tory about detecting lies," Ekman says. "But they
have picked it up in the school of hard knocks."
Liars can also fall victim to their deceit by be-
lieving in their own lies. Witness former Italian
prime minister Benito Mussolini who in 1938
reduced the composition of an Italian army di-
vision from three regiments to two because it
enabled him, Ekman explains, "to say that fas-
cism had sixty divisions instead of barely half as
many.
"Because he forgot what he had done several
years, later, he tragically miscalculated the true
strength of his forces. It seems to have deceived
few other people except himself."
A more recent lie gained prominent media
attention when Cathleen Crowell Webb said she
had lied about being raped several years earlier
by Gary Dotson. Dotson was convicted and
served six years in jail based on Webb's original
courtroom testimony.
"The real lesson of the Cathy Webb situation is
that if we believe her now, it means that she is
the kind of person who, without any special train-
ing, is capable of deliberately lying, fooling law-
yers, judges and juries," Ekman says. "What it
really shows us is our vulnerablity to lies. She's
not Lawrence Olivier, she's not a trained Soviet
agent. Whether she's lying or telling the truth,
that's the nature of human life, you can't always
tell. There's no way to be absolutely certain of
the truth."
The second cost of lying for Webb is this,
Ekman says: "If we believe her now, it's saying
that we can never really believe her. Once you
have been a liar and have been caught'or con-
fessed, can anyone ever trust you again? That's
the main reason that we try to teach our children
not to lie. Once someone has lied, it's very hard
to trust someone again." ^
PHOTO BY HARRY NAETC RYAN-THE WASHINGTON POST
Polygraphs use electrodes to track
changes in the nervous system.
The Common Use of Lie Detector Tests
Lie detector tests-or polygraphs-are
administered to an estimated one million peo-
ple a year, according-to Paul Ekman, a psy
cholagfst from the University of California at
San F?rawisce.
The top reasons fdi- giving Chese tests n'r-
elude:
^ -Pre-employment screening, particularly by
banks, retail operations and security firms.
A Control of internal crime.
^ Screening for promotions, especially when
they involve a higher security clearance.
Among those whom Ekman says rely upon
this type of screening are members of the
National Association of Drug Stores and the
National Association of Convenience Stores,
Brinks Inc. and Associated Grocers.
Requiring employes to take polygraph
tests is legal in 33 states, Ekman says.
The federal government is the "third largest
user of the polygraph test to detect lying," he
says. r-992, some 22,000 tests "were re=
wed Wv va rous federal agencies." Most were
green to eitlteY investigate crimes or for itrtef
ce or c urtenntelligence purposes.
Federal agencies that use polygraph tests
include: U.S. Army Criminal Investigation
Command; U.S. Army Intelligence and Se-
curity Command; Naval Investigative Ser-
vice; `Air Force Office of Special Investiga=
tions; U.S. Marine Corps Criminal Investi-
gation Division; National Security Agency;
Secret Service; FBI; Postal Inspector Ser-
vice; Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Admin-
istration; Drug Enforcement Administration;
CIA; U.S. Marshalls; Custom Service and the
department of Labor.
- Sally Squires
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605740067-0