THE TRUTH ABOUT LIE DETECTION THE POLYGRAPHERS VS. THE VOICE STRESS ANALYSTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807330003-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: July 3, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807330003-1
ARTICLE A?EARED
WASHINGTON TIDIES
3 July 1985
The truth about
LIE DETECTION
The polygraphers vs. the voice stress analysts
By Diana West
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
While it may not fizz and
pop like the Old Coke-
New Coke debate, an
older rivalry has been
brewing between the old and the
new school of lie detection.
If you ask a polygrapher about the
new kid in town - the audio stress
analyser - he's likely to get a mite
touchy, if he answers at all. And if
you ask an audio stress analyst about
polygraphy, he'll probably admit
that polygraphy has its merits -
although he'll insist that audio stress
analysis is the wave of the future.
So even though it's not exactly the
Hatfields and the McCoys, one audio
stress analyst saw fit to describe the
rivalry as "a running gun battle with
the polygraphers."
Polygraphs, as most people know,
are devices that record physiologi-
cal changes brought on by lying.
Granted, only Pinocchio's nose actu-
ally lengthened when he lied, but
according to polygraphers,, other
palpable changes do in fact occur.
The stress of telling a lie makes a
person's heart pound faster, his
breathing quicken, and his forehead
bead with sweat.
And, according to the audio stress
analysers, telling a lie also changes
a person's voice. The stress of lying
actually tightens the vocal cords,
producing "sub-audible tremors"
which form the basis of audio stress
analysis.
Jim Squires, chief analyst and
director of training at CCS Commu-
nications Control Inc. a New York
maker of privacy protection and
security systems, has used a voice
stress analyser in over 5,000 investi-
gations. "But there's no such thing as
a lie detector," he is quick to insist.
"There are stress detectors. Stress
unto itself is not deception." It is up
to the examiner to figure out what
the test data can tell him.
On this count, polygraphers and
audio stress analysers actually
agree. Fred Link, a nationally-known
polygrapher who heads Interatec, a
polygraph and security company in
Atlanta, describes polygraphy as "a
technique. The polygraph records
changes that occur in the body, just
like an X-ray machine [does]. And
just like a doctor who reads an X-ray,
a polygraph reading is a human
diagnostic process"
It is this element of human fal-
libility that shakes the faith of some.
For skeptics, lie detection is a con-
troversial technology that still
smacks of snake oil salesmen hawk-
ing hair tonic and truth serum. A
couple of years ago, in keeping with
this carnival spirit, noted criminal
defense attorney F. Lee Bailey took
lie detection to television in a daily
half-hour program called - you
guessed it - "Lie Detector." The
show was designed to offer individu-
als a chance to counter accustations
made against them. It featured a
motley crew, ranging from a man
who claimed to have caught a rare
fish in Mexico, to pitcher Gaylord
Perry who had been accused of
throwing a spitball, to former Ala-
bama state Sen. Robert Glass, who
was accused of having accepted
kickbacks to form a relief agency.
Polygraphy, however, seems to
have outlasted this program's failure
to catch on. And recently, judging by
the overwhelming vote in the House
of Representatives to allow the Pen-
tagon to perform polygraph tests on
more than 4 million military and
civilian personnel with access to
classified information, the poly-
graph has been accepted by the fed-
eral government in a big way.
B ut while that's good news for
the polygraphers, the voice
stress analysts also want to
get in on the act.
Many of them claim that a poly-
graph test is subject to more pitfalls
than a voice stress analyser. A crafty
subject with a bag of tricks can
"fool" the polygraph - or at least an
unwitting polygrapher.
"If you file your fingernails to a
point and prick your finger while
you're answering a question, the
pain waves will mess things up;' said
one man who markets voice stress
analysers.
Or, if that might seem to be a little
obvious to a watchful examiner, tak-
ing a valium, smearing anti-
perspirant all over, or putting a
thumbtack in a shoe and stepping on
it during the examination all are
techniques that, when undetected,
will distort the polygraph test.
nd moving your anal orifice
will also affect your poly-
raph results," admitted
Robert Reed, a polygraph instructor
at the Maryland Institute of
Criminal Justice. "But we can train
polygraphers to be able to catch
these countermeasures," he said.
"The only way the voice stress
analyser can be fooled is if a person
is a pathological liar and believes
what he says," said Alice Fribourg,
advertising director for CCS.
Otherwise, voice stress analysis
proponents claim, a person is simply
unable to control his vocal cords
under stress. And, unlike a poly-
graph test, an audio stress analysis
may be conducted secretly, without
the subject's knowledge, over the
phone, or even by using a cassette
recording.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807330003-1
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP9O-00965ROO0807330003-1
"I think there's no question that
(audio stress analysis) is easier to
perform than the polygraph. It's eas-
ier on the person. But that doesn't
mean it's better," said Mr. Link. "The
polygraph monitors many different
functions of the body. That's why it's
called a `poly-graph,' " he continued.
" With the voice analyser, it's like hav-
ing just one single channel to watch.
I n Virginia, the use of voice stress
analysers has been banned since
the mid-1970s by legislation,
pushed through by an energetic
lobby, the Virginia Polygraph Asso-
ciation.
"They were afraid that the voice
stress analysers would come along
and take away their business," said
one person who actually uses both
polygraphs and voice stress anal-
ysers in his private security busi-
ness.
"You've got an old-boy system in
the government," said one supporter
of voice stress analysis. "It's almost
their jobs that are at stake since
they've been trained on the poly-
graph."
As the debate over polygraphs
and voice stress analysers simmers
in the lie detecting community, the
larger debate over lie detection con-
tinues to attract attention. Evidence
stacks up neatly on both sides .
One thing is-clear, however, and
that is that lie detection is
widely used, often with great
success. One common use is by busi-
nesses that use lie detector tests in
an effort to halt theft of inventory, as
well as in pre-employment
screening tests.
In the courtroom, it is up to the
presiding judge whether to admit lie
detector tests as evidence. This
spring, a North Carolina court
allowed a voice stress analysis test to
be used in the defense of a defendant
who was later acquitted of rape
charges. And in the recent trial of
Kathy Boudin for her part in the
G ,
Brinks holdup, a polygraph test was
the key to the judge's decision to
allow her to plead guilty to reduced
murder and robbery charges.
On the other hand, in the trial of
John DeLorean, Judge Robert
Thkasugi would not allow Mr. DeLor-
ean's polygraph test into court testi-
mony, despite - or perhaps because
- of the fact the judge was himself
formerly a polygrapher.
The shattering news of the Walker
family spy charges undoubtedly
provided the impetus that boosted
the polygraph measure through
Congress last week. (Adding more
insults to serious alleged injuries,
John Walker's firm actually per-
formed polygraphs for Navy person-
nel.) Even with such sweeping
support, though, the polygraph
question will continue to be care-
fully studied.
- -, ,~~-....y,~~~f.,l rvatcnes polygraph examiner Ed Gelb (left) test Dennis Redd on "Lie Detector" . Ass Press
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP9O-00965ROO0807330003-1