Word: polygraphed
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...testimony provided the committee, the GAO estimated the number of federal employees subject to possible polygraph tests at about 2.5 million, nearly half of all 5.1 million federal employees. That many hold secret or higher security clearances. The GAO study noted that no fewer than 47 Government agencies now handle classified information, including the Office of Micronesian Status Negotiations, the National Labor Relations Board and the Marine Mammal Commission...
...administer the alcohol tests only after a reasonable suspicion of drunk driving (weaving, excessive speed, etc.); under the Reagan plan, employees undergo random tests regardless of criminal suspicion. And second, the precisions of alcohol tests--accurate to several decimal places--provides prima facie evidence of guilt; while results of polygraph tests are haphazard at best. The arbitrary application of lie-detector tests coupled with their dubious reliability belies our ideal of painstaking procedural due process. Perhaps Richard Nixon put it best when he remarked in one of the Watergate tapes. "I don't know whether [lie-detector tests] are accurate...
...March 11 directive aimed at tightening counterespionage efforts and reducing the number of news leaks to the press. Under the original directive, current and former employees with security clearances must submit to government censors any writing they mean to publish. The requirement also forced officials to consent to polygraph tests if suspected of unauthorized news releases. Failure to comply with the mandates can result in demotion or reassignment. The new orders proposed last week extend random lie-detector tests to all officials with access to classified information, even if no evidence of security breaches exists...
...might conceivably argue that the national security benefits of employing foolproof lie-detector devices outweigh such infringements on individual rights. But polygraph tests have failed to yield reliable data on dishonesty or criminal behavior, indeed, most U.S. courtrooms have refused to recognize the results of lie detector tests as evidence. Moreover, a recent Office of Technology Assessment study, based on an exhaustive review of available data, concluded that "no scientific evidence exists to establish the validity of polygraph testing" in discovering lies or national security leaks. Even in criminal investigations, the study found that the accuracy of polygraph tests fluctuated...
Recalls a Government official ordered to submit to a polygraph during the Abscam investigation of congressional bribes and shown to be telling the truth: "It was the most humiliating experience of my entire Government career...