1. Spies & Lies
The theory behind the polygraph is that basic bodily functions (breathing, heart rate, etc) can show if you are lying.
(Here’s a protip: Never drink coffee before taking a polygraph test. You don’t want to feel any more jittery than you already do or cause your heart to race thanks to a morning latte. No bathroom break, either.)
So without a molecule of caffeine, I took my first polygraph test, the one that would determine if I was honest enough to be offered a job at CIA.
The chair was a giant cushy recliner. The polygraph instrument was a cross between a suitcase and an electrocardiogram
machine.
After the first round of questions, the examiner left the room (normal procedure) leaving me hooked up and unable to get out of the recliner. There was a two-way mirror so somebody was watching me.
Meh. I closed my eyes.
The examiner woke me up about 20 minutes later.
I
passed.
Years later, I yawned during a test. The examiner barked, “Why did you do that?”
“I haven’t had any coffee today,” I said
truthfully.
After I passed, he told me that yawning is a technique to defeat the machine.
Aldrich “Rick” Ames was a career CIA officer who spied for
Moscow, selling out a raft of important agents helping the US understand the threat from a nuclear-powered Soviet Union, who twice passed a polygraph test while under investigation.
(FYI, no ideological saint here; Ames sold secrets to support his drinking habit,
lavish lifestyle and newish Colombian wife.)
When asked about his inexplicable wealth, he claimed that his money came from his wealthy in-laws, who were giving him a “free ride.” His claim was fact-checked, and yes, his in-laws were rich.
When asked about foreign intel contacts, he attributed that to his wife's family, too. Maybe people he'd met through them worked for other intelligence agencies. He didn't know. The polygraph examiner accepted his explanation.
He never defeated the
polygraph machine, he defeated the examiners.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to be able to do everything. Could Ames have defeated new facial recognition AI applications?
According to researchers in Israel, a new technology that measures “the movement of facial muscles is 73% accurate at detecting when a person is telling a lie.”
The technology assesses the tiny involuntary twitches that LIESPOTTING author and expert Pamela Meyer calls
“emotional leakage.”
IMHO, if the counterintelligence team hunting for a mole inside CIA had had AI lie detection tools PLUS the polygraph, they almost certainly would have identified Ames as the mole long before his arrest in 1994. Ames wouldn’t be able to control his “emotional leakage.” That would be
enough to intensify interest in him and reassess his polygraph tests.
Moreover, the team could have narrowed the scope of the hunt sooner, too, as other suspects were crossed off the list more swiftly.
~
Thought-provoking? Find me on the Medium platform where I share insights about deception in all its forms. https://medium.com/@carmenconnects
2. Almost-summer reads
Friends at StoryOrigin have some fresh almost-summer reads for mystery lovers! Click the cover image for more.
