A Pox on Polygraphs
Science · 2002
In the first major U.S. government report on polygraphs since 1983, a panel of the National Academy of Sciences this week said the government should not use the so-called lie detectors to see if an employee poses a security risk. The study, commissioned by the Department of Energy (DOE) in the wake of the Wen Ho Lee affair (Science, 15 September 2000, p. 1851), says that although the devices can be a help to criminal investigators, they are too crude to screen out possible spies.