Desperate To Stop Leaks, The Trump Administration Considers Moving From Bad Ideas To Worse Ones
from the do-you-consent-to-the-use-of-sodium-pentothal? dept
The Trump Administration is so frustrated by constant leaks, it's willing to try anything to stop them. Apparently, this may one day involve questionable tech with an extremely-spotty track record. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has an idea -- a bad one -- to address the ongoing White House leakstravaganza.
Sessions' idea is to do a one-time, one-issue, polygraph test of everyone on the NSC staff. Interrogators would sit down with every single NSC staffer (there's more than 100 of them), and ask them, individually, what they know about the leaks of transcripts of the president's phone calls with foreign leaders. Sessions suspects those leaks came from within the NSC, and thinks that a polygraph test — at the very least — would scare them out of leaking again.
Sessions' spitball may never come to fruition but it does indicate the White House is still no closer to uncovering the source(s) of these leaks. This also indicates the AG is willing to alienate NSC staffers with mandatory tests predicated on nothing more than Sessions' belief the leaks came from within the NSC.
On top of that, there's the dubious deterrent effect of deploying machinery whose results should be taken with a shaker of salt. The machines can be beat. Research and "How To" literature bear this out, although the federal government does what it can to prevent the spread of the latter. False positives are a problem as well. Ringing up staffers for leaking just because a machine said yes isn't going to stop the leaks or put investigators any closer to catching the real culprit(s).
But this is the way things go when the federal government is in charge. It relies heavily on polygraph tests when vetting applicants for agencies like the Customs and Border Protection. And it continues to deploy these tests even when applicants have admitted to activities or relationships that would disqualify them from federal employment.
Chances are Sessions' polygraph idea will likely remain just an idea. It could be the multiple discussions Sessions is engaging in are all part of his leak deterrence plan -- to have the threat of mandatory lie detector tests hovering in midair for the rest of tenure. Even so, it's a desperation move that shows the White House can't contain the leaks, much less hope to stop them. Suggestions like the one made by Sessions are just going to turn more staffers against the administration, which means more leaks, rather than less, over the course of this administration's lifetime.
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Filed Under: jeff sessions, leaks, lie detector, national security, polygraph
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And another one.
This falls under the "this shit has a past independent from Trump, but it has a bright future thanks to him" category.
Of course Trump is not personally responsible for this but through his chosen personnel. "personelly", so to say.
There are enough bad ideas to start with that Trump and his administration do not have to come up with their own. But of course reprioritizing the bad ones leaves the U.S. in a worse state than before. And backwards movement is not really conducive regarding an "America first" goal.
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Re: And another one.
See also: white supremacist groups.
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Re: And another one.
But as we all know, he must have the biggest and baddest bad idea of them all so that he can brag about it every day
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/s
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Can we hook Trump up to a polygraph?
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Re: Can we hook Trump up to a polygraph?
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Re: Re: Can we hook Trump up to a polygraph?
So even assuming polygraph tests would be somewhat reliable, you'd have to apply them to Trump's advisers rather than himself.
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A pathetic liar is too impaired to know whether or when he is lying…
…thus making polygraph tests a exercise in futility. ;]
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Re: Can we hook Trump up to a polygraph?
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Re: Re: Can we hook Trump up to a polygraph?
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Re: Can we hook Trump up to a polygraph?
Do you want exploding lie detectors? Because that's how you get exploding lie detectors.
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Next stop: Gitmo
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Too bad...
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Re: Too bad...
This Administration makes one long for corrective phrenology.
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Snowcrash
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Re: Snowcrash
I don't need Neal Stephenson to know that Jeff Sessions is an autocratic little tyrant though.
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leakstravaganza
Or leakapalooza.
Even so, it's a desperation move that shows the White House can't contain the leaks, much less hope to stop them.
It may be easier to find the bits that are not leaking. Like a couple of rocks poking through the surface of a river.
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Single minded...
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Let Us Pretend (i.e., democracy)
Since this is clearly not the the case in the USSA, and hasn't been for several decades (if ever), why bother with all this nonsense about secrets (except for those lethal ones in the hands of dangerous sub-humands)?
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But if they're not, does it mean the leaks are from a very good higher-up liar?
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They still use those?
Sure Mr Sessions, the entire internet already knows how bullshit a polygraph is, go ahead and waste more of OUR money by making everyone take one, please!
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Re: They still use those?
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Re: They still use those?
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Re:
Yes...yes he does, for he knew with so many poorly educated, his time had come. With the help of some 'friends'.
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Amateurs.
Polygraphs aren't used by those in power not because they are not accurate, but because they are TOO accurate. Plausible deniability would cease.
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Re:
Huh? I'm hitting Poe here. Are you joking or are you serious?
The unreliability of polygraph tests is well-documented.
Here's a representative piece from the American Psychological Association.
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"Good gravy! This machine is a piece of garbage that goes of randomly."
Relevant Adam Ruins Everything video clip.
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