Former Cop Earns Federal Indictment for Teaching How to Pass a Polygraph!

Via
Slashdot comes this awful story of a former Oklahoma City cop
who has been indicted by the federal government for allegedly
teaching people how to beat so-called lie-detector tests. Douglas
Williams Williams is the Big Kahuna of the anti-polygraph movement.
He’s not shy about what he’s up to. Here’s his website.

Especially in the wake of the Edward Snowden affair, the
feds are worried that “trained liars” will beat their tests that
are supposedly unbeatable. These tests, which
aren’t admissible in court and are about as “scientific” as
astrology, are nonetheless widely used by federal and other
law-enforcement agencies to test job applicants, workers, and
people accused of crimes.

“There is no unique physiological signature that is associated
with lying,” Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American
Scientists told Reason earlier this year. “You can learn to
regulate your heartbeat, you can learn to control your breath, and
you can generate spurious signals.”

Whatevs. From the Justice Department:

Douglas Williams, 69, of Norman, Oklahoma, was charged in a
five-count indictment in the Western District of Oklahoma with mail
fraud and obstruction.  According to allegations in the
indictment, Williams, the owner and operator of “Polygraph.com,”
marketed his training services to people appearing for polygraph
examinations before federal law enforcement agencies, federal
intelligence agencies, and state and local law enforcement
agencies, as well as people required to take polygraph examinations
under the terms of their parole or probation.

More here.

In February, Reason TV’s Joshua Swain produced a video
about Chad Dixon, an Indiana man sentence to eight months in the
federal slammer for teaching people how to beat polygraphs. As
disturbing, Reason TV talked with Marisa Taylor of the
McClatchy newspaper chain, who has reported extensively on the war
against anti-polygraph activists.
Taylor discovered that not only are federal agencies increasing
the number and frequency of lie-detector tests of employees but
Customs and Border Patrol agents compiled lists of people who had
bought books about beating polygraphs and then shared those lists
with the IRS, CIA, and NSA.

Watch “Why Teaching How to Beat Polygraphs Can Land You in
Jail”: