POLYGRAPHS: 'WITCHCRAFT' OR 'EFFECTIVE TOOL'?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100680003-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 11, 2011
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: June 28, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/11: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100680003-6
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ARTICLE
ON ?AG8
WASHINGTON POST
28 June 1985
Polygraphs:' `Witchcraft'
Or `Effective Tool'?
Spy Case Refuels Debate Over Pits' Widity
By Ruth Mates
- VINWOM
To its such as the late
the he detector
tilt smacks d 10th century t" witch-
To its orters vxh as
William Notanish. director secu-
The polygraph's ability to deter-
mine an adividuaYs veracity by mea-
suring esaoges in pose, blood pres-
ame and perepi anion has been a
matter d controversy almost since
the forerunner of the modern device
was invented about 60 years ago.
But with the arrest of four Navy
mat on espionage charges, the is-
sue of using be detectors to uncov-
a spies and potential spies has
come to the fuefiont of debate
about at should be done to stem
the loss d dehme secrets.
The House d Representatives
voted ovarwhel mingly Wednesday
to grant the Pentagon booed power
to subject to be detector tests more
than 4 mill" military and civilian
employes cleared to we classified
information. Under the measure,
passed 333 to 71 as an amendment
to the Defense Department author-
isation bill, polygraphs would be re-
quired of those seeking clearance to
see the most sensitive information.
A similar measure, backed by
Majority Leader Robert J. Dole (R-
Kan.), is pending in the Senate.
Polygraph proponents applauded
the House vote. If a person is a spy,
and if he's being asked on the poly-
graph, 'Have you ever spied?' he's go-
ing to react to it on the polygraph,
and the chances of his being detected
are very good," said Gordon Berland.
'a Utah polygraph expert.
According to the American Poly-
graph Association, the test is accu-
rate acre than 90 percent of the
time in cases where trained exam-
ioers are able to reach a conclusion
about a person's truthfulness.
Bodkiers of polygraphs also main-
tain that the threat of being sub-
jected to a test would deter worker
who might otherwise be tempted to
spy. The author of the House
amendment, Rep. C.W. Bill Young
(R-Fla.), cited testimony last month
by convicted Soviet spy Chrisopher
Boyce, who told a Senate commit-
tee that if he had thought he might
be required to take a polygraph
test, "I would never have consid-
ered an act of espionage."
But critics of lie detector tests de-
scribe the devices as unreliable in
general and particularly unsuitable in
screening rather than in investiga-
ting specific crimes or incidents. In-
creased use of the tests for deter-
muting clearances, they warn, would
finger innocent people as security
risks while failing to unmask real
spies trained to outwit the tests.
"The polygraph can detect lies just
as well as Laetrile can cure cancer,"
said Dr. John F. Beaty 111, associate
dean at the Georgetown University
School of Medicine and former prin-
cipal deputy assistant secretary of
defense for health affairs. "The sol-
dier or sailor now has his career de-
termined by a device with the accu-
racy of a roulette wheel."
Beary cited a 1983 study by the
congressional Office of Technology
Assessment that concluded, 'While
there is some evidence for the val-
,dity of polygraph testing as an ad-
junct to criminal investigations,
there is very little research or sci-
entific evidence to establish poly-
AFW out sea.
graph testilli validity m screening stt-
ustiona. The' scientfic evidence is
clear-that a polygraph teat cannot
reliably and in any valid way deter-
mine whether somebody is lying."
'I'm as concerned as any other
citisea about spies and preventing
people in the armed forces from
selllag information to foreign gov-
ernments, but the polygraph is not
a device that is going to enable us
to determine who's doing these
things," said the author of the- re-
port, Boston University psychology
professor Leonard Saxe.
A principal concern among critics
of he detector tests is the threat of
"false positive" readings-finding de-
ception by a person who actually is
telling the truth-that would brand
honest employes as security risks.
'ruthful people are going to be
victimized," said David Lykken, a
polygraph expert at the University of
Minnesota. He said studies show that
innocent people have a 40 to 50 pe--
ant chance d being classified as de-
ceptive. "A lot d innocent people,
and especially conscientious people
who are not accustomed to having
their word questioned are going to
fail a polygraph test," he said.
"Certainly false positives can oc-
cur," said Frank Horvath, director
of the American Polygraph Asso-
ciation Research Center at Mich-
igan State University. However, he
said, such results "do not present a
serious problem (because] most
employers do not make a decision
solely on the basis of a polygraph
test outcome. They use that to cor-
relate with other information about
an applicant."
Critics also warn that actual spies
trained to outsmart polygraphs
might evade detection. Subjects can
throw examiners off the track of
their ties by biting their tongues or
stepping on a tack hidden in their
shoes when answering "control"
questions, critics said.
It can be beaten and the KGB
knows how to beat the polygraph,"
Lykken said. "When the exmainers
say you can easily detect (evasive
measures) from the charts they are
thinking about uninformed criminal
suspects who don't know how to do it
and try to beat the test on the spur
of the moment by coughing or
squirming."
Continued
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/11: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100680003-6