-Caveat Lector- Monday June 21 6:27 PM ET Energy Dep't To Give Polygraph Tests Full Coverage China Nuclear Spying By H. JOSEF HEBERT Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The Energy Department plans to give lie detector tests to as many as 5,000 nuclear weapons scientists and other employees in sensitive jobs with wholesale testing to begin later this summer, senior department officials said Monday. Fifty-six counterintelligence officers, including some at the nuclear weapons laboratories, already have volunteered to take the polygraph tests, said Edward J. Curran, director of the DOE's Office of Counterintelligence. Curran said in an interview Monday that by September the department will have the ability to test at the rate of more than 200 people a month. The plans call for testing about 2,500 scientists and other workers in the first year and renewed tests every five years, officials said. It will be the first time any agency outside of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency engaged in widespread use of polygraph tests on workers. The FBI uses the devices to screen prospective employees. The prospect of widespread use of polygraph tests on thousands of workers, including most of the nuclear weapons scientists at the research labs, has raised concern among scientists at the labs. Some lab managers worry that the research facilities may lose top scientists to universities where they would not be subjected to such scrutiny. There also is concern about the reliability of the polygraph, known informally as a lie detector, and the potential for career-ending ``false positive'' mistakes. Polygraph results are not admissible in court because of their reliability. In January, a number of CIA employees filed a lawsuit in connection with the spy agency's use of polygraph tests in internal security and disciplinary action. Curran said the tests, which will be administered by contractors, will be ``very focused.'' Main questions will be limited to ``deal only with espionage'' and not personal or ``lifestyle'' matters. ``We've been very careful that we have everybody's concerns addressed. This is a technique that is used in the interest of protecting national security. The more focused it is, the better the results,'' said Curran. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said in April that he planned to require polygraph tests on department employees with top secret ``Q'' clearances as part of a broader program to beef up security and anti-espionage programs at the department. Last week, a report by a panel of the president's International Intelligence Advisory Board, in a broad review of security at the DOE's nuclear weapons facilities, questioned why polygraph testing was not already being used more widely. It noted that a presidential security directive in February 1998 called for such tests. Curran said the three nuclear weapons labs - Los Alamos, Sandia, and Lawrence Livermore - as well as other department offices currently are assembling the names of those who will be subjected to the tests. He said he will have final say on who is tested. ``We're off and running. We started the program at the end of April,'' said Curran, a veteran FBI agent and counterintelligence expert who was the first to voluntarily submit to the test. The regulation covering the tests will be put into the Federal Register soon, possibly this week, and a 30-day comment period will follow before the general testing program can begin, officials said. Curran said he doesn't expect a flood of volunteers, particularly from the weapons research labs. ``They're not hammering at my door,'' he said. -- The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them. - Henry David Thoreau DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
