The use of the polygraph has done little more than create confusion, ambiguity and mistakes.
The FBI, to its credit in a self-serving sort of way, rejects the routine use of the polygraph on its own people.
Polygraph tests are 20th-century witchcraft.
Later, I went down to the Washington field office and an onsite polygraph was administered. After reviewing the polygraph charts in private, the polygraph examiner told me that I had passed and that he believed I had nothing to do with the anthrax letters.
I am not opposed to the limited use of polygraphs in a case where a person is suspected of wrongdoing. But widespread use of the polygraph as a screening tool goes far beyond what is acceptable.
The U. S. is, so far as I know, the only nation which places such extensive reliance on the polygraph. It has gotten us into a lot of trouble.