Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: Security clearances, lie detectors, etc.
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 09:58:58 -0700
Seconded djf ________________________________________ From: David P. Reed [dpreed () reed com] Sent: Friday, May 02, 2008 11:22 AM To: David Farber Cc: ip Subject: Re: [IP] Security clearances, lie detectors, etc. I wonder if it's worth asking a deeper question here: What evidence do we have that Security Clearances themselves actually work? And for that matter is there a well-understood and clear definition of what a Security Clearance is supposed to achieve? This question has been asked for so-called "lie detectors", which have no accepted scientific validity for broad-spectrum discrimination of falsehoods. I spent a day last week with representatives of the FBI and ICE concerned with implementing the legal requirements related to foreign nationals on campus, such as "deemed export". The biggest current debate in "deemed export" implementation seems to be whether they are allowed to take into account "country of birth" rather than "country of current citizenship and residence" in deciding when a "deemed export" happens when a foreign student uses a device that incorporates export-controlled technology (merely using a supercomputer or a using an advanced thermal imaging instrument is deemed to require an export license to the countries that user is affiliated with). Ignoring the workability of deemed export rules, one can construct a case that some student born in Iran might have been deliberately raised in, and given Canadian citizenship merely as a ruse to steal US's advanced technology, right? As a US citizen who values my country's survival, I think it's terribly important to hold the "security clearance" and other "vetting" processes accountable and reliable. Thus, perhaps we need to think about this as a scientific question. Are there any peer-reviewed xtudies that show that such vetting procedures actually detect spies and prevent bombs from being built? I suspect that the goal is to channel people who like to express prejudices in their jobs. It can be fun to screw "others", right - especially when the whole society has a lot of hate for Chinese and Arabic people. ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- Re: Security clearances, lie detectors, etc. David Farber (May 02)
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- Re: Security clearances, lie detectors, etc. David Farber (May 02)