Slashdot Mirror
DIA Polygraph Countermeasure Case Files Leaked
George Maschke writes AntiPolygraph.org (of which I am a co-founder) has published a set of leaked Defense Intelligence Agency polygraph countermeasure case files along with a case-by-case analysis. The case files, which include polygraph charts and the exact questions used, suggest that the only people being "caught" trying to beat the polygraph are those using crude, unsophisticated methods that anyone who actually understood polygraph procedure and effective countermeasures (like, say, a real spy, saboteur, or terrorist) would ever use. AntiPolygraph.org has previously published polygraph community training materials on countermeasures that indicate they lack the ability to detect countermeasures like those described in our free book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector (PDF) or in former police polygraph examiner Doug Williams' manual, How to Sting the Polygraph. Williams, who was indicted last year after teaching undercover federal agents how to pass a polygraph, is scheduled to stand trial on May 12 in Oklahoma City.
Hope they don't catch me cheating the magic crystal ball. They might send the leprechauns after me.
that's just it, right? the ultimate polygraph countermeasure is to understand it's a psychological trick to get you to confess to things you wouldn't have confessed to otherwise. if they get you to confess to something, then you "failed" the polygraph. If they can't manipulate a confession out of you, then the polygraph is "inconclusive". it's impossible to "pass" a polygraph test.
an exception may be one where a) the testers actually believe in the polygraph test themselves and b) they don't need a confession. like imagine a job interview at ABC Shizzface Company. some company head hocho dodo says we should do polygraph, so middle management dodo gets a consultant and totally believes anything the consultant tells him because he believes that polygraphs are objective truths. Then they don't need to get a confession, they just need to get any sense of unease and they will deny you the job.
Most developed countries do not recognise a polygraph in court, or in science.
And haven't.
For centuries.
I wonder why the US still does.
Just saying.