--- From: Kevin Christopher <kchristopherat_private> To: "'declanat_private'" <declanat_private> Subject: Continued Controversy over Polygraphs for Congressmen Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 17:48:40 -0400 Declan: Alan Zelicoff is Sandia National Laboratories' senior scientist at the Center for National Security and Arms Control in Albuquerque, NM. He's also a courageous and vocal critic of the polygraph. Last year, Skeptical Inquirer published his commentary, "Polygraphs and the National Labs: Dangerous Ruse Undermines National Security" (http://www.csicop.org/si/2001-07/polygraph.html). Zelicoff has been active in many other national issues since, especially biological terrorism, but he has been fairly quiet on the "polygraph = pseudoscience" issue -- until this month. Zelicoff wrote a hard-hitting op-ed column "Polygraph Hypocrisy," published in the August 9, 2002, Washington Post. In it, Zelicoff condemns Alabama Senator Richard Shelby for a hypocritical stance on polygraphs. Shelby joined other senators in rejecting the recent proposal to subject members of Congress to a polygraph, but, according to Zelicoff, he was behind legislation for a program to polygraph 15,000 scientists at the Department of Energy. A substantial excerpt of the Post op-ed can be found at http://antipolygraph.org/news.shtml). Shelby's office denies that he was behind this legislation, but Zelicoff claims he got the info from unnamed congressional sources (see http://www.abqjournal.com/paperboy/ia/news/756381news08-22-02.htm). The public relations fallout from Zelicoff's op-ed has been interesting to say the least. According to a story in yesterday's Albuquerque Journal, Zelicoff claims that senior executives from Sandia and the Department of Energy had urged him not to submit his op-ed column and, in one instance, resorted to using what he took as a thinly veiled threat. Sandia's vice president for public relations admits that he called Zelicoff and told him the story of a Lockheed-Martin employee fired for comments made to the press, but he denies that was using the tale as a threat. Lockheed Martin manages Sandia for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. (http://www.abqjournal.com/paperboy/ia/news/756381news08-22-02.htm). Current polygraph info, links and more at http://www.antipolygraph.org/. Regards, Kevin Christopher Public Relations Director Skeptical Inquirer P.O. Box 703 Amherst, NY 14226 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan CNET Radio 9:40 am ET weekdays: http://cnet.com/broadband/0-7227152.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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