“Why Teaching How to Beat Polygraphs Can Land You in
Jail,” produced by Joshua Swain and narrated by Todd Krainin. About
4 minutes.
Original release date was February 11, 2014 and original writeup
is below.
Last September, Chad
Dixon was sentenced to 8 months in a federal prison for
teaching clients counter-measures for polygraph tests. Federal
prosecutors charged Dixon with obstructing justice—they view his
business as undermining an important tool used to check the
credibility of government employees and prosecute
criminals.
The information Dixon was selling wasn’t new. Books on
beating polygraphs have been around since the machines
were invented. So why is the federal government cracking down
now?
In an effort to stop the next Edward Snowden, officials are
emphasizing polygraphs’ ability to prevent leaks by keeping
employees honest. The NSA has
recently gone from polygraphing its employees once every five years
to four times a year.
Relying on polygraphs is extremely risky according to most
scientists. “There is no unique physiological signature that is
associated with lying,” says Steven
Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists.
Polygraphs can only record physiological responses to situations
and, Aftergood explains, you can train yourself to control those
responses: “You can learn to regulate your heartbeat, you can learn
to control your breath, and you can generate spurious
signals.”
Supporters of polygraphs believe that up-to-date machines and
well-trained operators can detect lies, making the counter-measures
Dixon was teaching obsolete. “We’re trained in all those type of
counter-measures,” says Darryl
DeBow of the Virginia Polygraph School. “They are so
antiquated, we know when they are doing it.” Yet if the
counter-measures can easily be detected, it throws doubt on the
argument that Dixon was hindering the federal government’s
work.
4 minutes.
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