Bob McCarty Writes

Shouldn’t front-line soldiers be able to use equipment deemed most effective by those who’ve used it in the field?  Most people believe would agree to that, but not the folks at the Pentagon — and, specifically, the folks in the Army’s polygraph community.

Consider these facts:

• More than 1,800 law enforcement agencies across the country trust Computer Voice Stress Analyzer technology enough to make it part of their interrogation tool kits;
  

• Members of the Army Special Forces and the Navy Special Warfare (a.k.a., “SEALs”) swear by it and refuse to use the Pentagon-approved alternative known as the Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System (a.k.a., “PCASS”); and

• In a case decided Oct 1, Judge Norman Mordue of the Northern District Court of New York became the most-recent convert to CVSA and now allows its use to determining whether a convicted sex offender is telling the truth about his activities (See Gjurovich v. United States for details).

Do our soldiers deserve the best?  Most people think they do.

As an Air Force veteran, I challenge you to decide where you stand on this matter by reading details of the aforementioned court case as well as the series of five posts below that resulted from my research on this matter:

• Is Tech ‘Turf War’ Putting U.S. Troops at Risk? (April 9, 2009)

• Will Military Continue Stonewalling on Lie Detector? (April 20, 2009)

• If Not for Memo, Torture Might Not Be An Issue (May 6, 2009)

• If Not for Memo, Torture Might Not Be Issue (Part 2) (May 7, 2009)

• Florida Firm Cites BMW Posts in News Release (May 11, 2009)

If, after completing your reading assignment, you find yourself believing CVSA should be allowed for use by our fighting men and women, CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS in Washington, D.C., and demand they pressure Pentagon officials into allowing the use of CVSA in combat zones and elsewhere.  Lives are at stake.

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